Smoking cessation and depression in male Saudi smokers

• Autor(a) principal: Al-Yousef, Bothaina Jawad
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/52276
• topic: Smoking; Smoking Cessation; Depression; PHQ9; Ciências Médicas

ABSTRACT: This study looks at the relationship between smoking cessation and depression in Saudi male smokers. The study has found that there is a positive correlation between quitting smoking and decreasing the intensity of depression, as people who participated in this program had a higher chance to decrease their level of depression in comparison with those who did not. We highly recommend this program for people who want to quit their smoking habits and enjoy their lives. After conducting this study on 75 Saudi men, only 11 quit smoking, and 64 either reduced smoking, didn’t change, or smoked more. Before the clinical help, 30 of those participants had no depression, 33 had minimal depression, 10 had mild depression, and 2 had moderate depression. After 6 months, and after attending the smoke cessation clinic, 51 smokers had no depression, while 12 has minimal depression, 8 had mild depression, and 4 had moderate depression. This shows that effectively, smoking has a relationship to depression, as lots of smokers who quit (or reduced) smoking have lost or reduced depressive symptoms. • 30 of the 75 participants who started the process to quit smoking had no depression. After 6 months, 51 of the 75 participants had no more depression, as the process to quit has helped them significantly. • 33 participants had minimal depression before starting the process to quit. After 6 months, this number decreased significantly, and only 12 participants had mild depression, showing more of the positive effects of quitting. • The 10 participants that had mild depression decreased as well, to 8 participants, showing more of the positive effects of quitting. • 2 participants who had moderate depression however, increased to 4, due to the external stressors preventing them from becoming emotionally stable. Conclusion: we have found that Smoking Cessation Clinic has a positive effect on 58% of the participants, as 44% of them decreased smoking habits, 14% completely quit. However, we have found out that according to the study, the process of smoking cessation helped many of the minimally depressed, not the mild nor moderately depressed.