PREDICTING SMOKING STAGE OF CHANGE AMONG A SAMPLE OF LOW SOCIOECONOMIC-STATUS, PRIMARY-CARE OUTPATIENTS - REPLICATION AND EXTENSION USING DECISIONAL BALANCE AND SELF-EFFICACY THEORIES

An expanding body of research using the transtheoretical model with bo th self-change and treatment programs suggests that differences in rea diness for smoking cessation are important predictors of successful ab stinence. Understanding the cognitive processes underlying these diffe rences may hold tremendous potential for improving the efficacy and ef ficiency of intervention strategies. Decisional balance theory and sel f-efficacy theory have been used to help explore how and why people mo ve through the stages of change, but they have been validated almost e xclusively with middle-class, educated White samples. This study sough t to investigate whether these theories relate to each other in the sa me manner among low socioeconomic status (SES) primary care outpatient s. Results indicated that variables from decisional balance theory (pr os, cons) and self-efficacy theory successfully differentiated stage m embership and yielded results consistent with the extant literature. S elf-efficacy demonstrated the most powerful association with stage mem bership, whereas pros, cons, and temptations exhibited varying degrees of association. Clinical implications and special considerations when conducting research and implementing interventions with low-SES smoke rs are discussed.