Abstract:
The Hazard of smoking directly affects to not only the smoker but also the persons exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) Inevitably, societies cannot be free from smoking so there should be a smoke free environment made at the macro level, and ETS avoidance at the micro Level This descriptive research aims to investigate factors affecting the avoidance of ETS in pregnant women, by applying Pender's Health Promotion Model The sample was 100 pregnant women visiting antenatal care unit at Khanom Hospital and 5 health centers in Khanom District, Nakorn Sn Thammarat from July to October 2005. The sample was selected by purposive sampling according to inclusion criteria, pregnant women who were not ex-smokers, did not smoke, and who lived with their families. The research instruments were self-administered questionnaires Data were analyzed by using means, standard deviations, Pearson's production moment correlation and multiple regression The results showed that the overall avoidance of ETS in pregnant women was at a low level. However, pregnant women had moderate levels of perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and perceived self-efficacy in avoiding ETS. Multiple regression revealed that no factors could explain the variance in avoiding ETS in pregnant woman. It was found that the mean birth weight of babies of mothers living with smokers was 3,121 rams and those of the mothers living with nonsmoker was 3,296 grams, a significant difference of t=2.229, p<0.05.However, confounding factors were not controlled The results of the study suggest that avoiding of environmental tobacco smoke should be emphasized especially in pregnant women together with promoting preserved benefit of the avoiding behavior. Moreover, further research should be done in heterogeneous samples with appropriate instruments for the Thai context.
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