College of Nursing, Gachon University, Incheon, South Korea.
College of Nursing·Research Institute of Nursing Science, Ajou University, Suwon, South Korea.
PLoS One. 2022 Jul 28;17(7):e0267685. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267685. eCollection 2022.
Smoking among women is characteristically high among call center employees and is associated with various individual and work-related characteristics, which have been paid little attention so far. This study explored the differences in intrapersonal and interpersonal characteristics and environmental factors among Korean women working in call centers by smoking status, based on an ecological model. In this cross-sectional study, an anonymous online survey was conducted among a sample of female employees from three credit card-based call centers (N = 588). Differences in intrapersonal (social nicotine dependence, smoking attitudes, emotional labor), interpersonal (smoking among family or friends, social support), and environmental factors (smoking cessation education, and perceived and preferred smoking policy at work) were compared according to smoking status (smokers, ex-smokers, and never smokers). Approximately 20% (n = 115) were smokers. Smokers were younger, mostly unmarried, had lower education, and had poorer perceived health status than ex- and never smokers. The mean scores for social nicotine dependence and smoking attitude were the highest among smokers, indicating their tendency to underestimate the negative effects of smoking. They also reported the highest level of emotional labor, with about half (50.4%) and almost all (95.7%) reporting smoking behaviors in their families and friends, respectively. Smokers took a lenient stance on the smoking ban policy. The results indicated the necessity to develop tailored smoking cessation programs to motivate female call center employees to quit smoking. As call centers may have a smoking-friendly environment, comprehensive smoking prevention programs considering multilevel factors are required to support smoking cessation.
女性吸烟在呼叫中心员工中尤为普遍，与各种个人和工作相关的特征有关，但迄今为止，这些特征一直没有得到太多关注。本研究基于生态模型，探讨了不同吸烟状况的韩国呼叫中心女性员工在个体内部和人际特征以及环境因素方面的差异。在这项横断面研究中，对来自三个信用卡呼叫中心的女性员工（N=588）进行了匿名在线调查。根据吸烟状况（吸烟者、戒烟者和从不吸烟者）比较了个体内部（社会尼古丁依赖、吸烟态度、情绪劳动）、人际（家庭或朋友吸烟、社会支持）和环境因素（戒烟教育、工作场所对吸烟的感知和偏好政策）的差异。大约 20%（n=115）为吸烟者。吸烟者比戒烟者和从不吸烟者更年轻、未婚、教育程度更低、健康状况较差。社会尼古丁依赖和吸烟态度的平均得分在吸烟者中最高，表明他们低估了吸烟的负面影响。他们还报告了最高水平的情绪劳动，约一半（50.4%）和几乎所有（95.7%）的人分别报告在家庭和朋友中有吸烟行为。吸烟者对禁烟政策持宽松立场。结果表明，有必要制定有针对性的戒烟计划，以激励女性呼叫中心员工戒烟。由于呼叫中心可能存在吸烟友好的环境，因此需要制定综合的多层面因素的预防吸烟计划，以支持戒烟。
