An 8-year comparison of hospitalized veterans' attitudes toward smoking and smoking cessation.

A 48-item questionnaire designed to measure attitudes toward smoking and interest in smoking cessation treatment was administered to 73 male hospitalized veterans and compared with previous administrations of the same instrument 4 and 8 years earlier. A surprising degree of stability of responses over time was evident. The alarmingly high rate of smoking among hospitalized veterans was again confirmed by this survey. The present survey showed that 60% of the sample smoked, compared with 68% and 69% found in the previous surveys. Forty-five percent of the smokers surveyed reported that they would be willing to participate in a program designed to help them stop smoking. It was pointed out that the Veterans Administration has failed to adequately address the problem behavior of smoking.