Smoking cessation among African Americans: What we know and do not know about interventions and self-quitting

Background Many studies on cessation interventions and self-quitting have b een conducted, but few have focused on African Americans. The purpose of th is review was to critically evaluate the available studies and make recomme ndations for future research. Methods. Articles published from 1988 to 1998 were collected using Medline and other data bases, as well as personal communication. Studies were divid ed into two categories: evaluations of specific cessation interventions and examinations of self-quit behaviors and related factors. Studies were tabu lated using author/year, study design/sample size, variables/results, and c omments. Results. In the intervention studies, church-based programs may provide an effective location for cessation interventions, but the studies to date did not demonstrate unequivocal effectiveness. In clinic programs, there do no t appear to be any interventions that are particularly effective. In commun ity-based interventions, there were no differences for African and Caucasia n Americans. With regard to self-quitting, sociodemographic variables were similarly related to cessation as in the general population, as were smokin g history variables. All other categories did not contain enough informatio n for firm conclusions to be drawn. Conclusions. There are some interventions that appear to be useful, but lit tle information is available on self-quitting. More research is needed on t he natural history of quitting, on the social norms for smoking among Afric an American groups, and on the conceptual dimensions of race in the context of this research. (C) 2000 American Health Foundation and Academic Press.