Assessment of parents' smoking behaviors at a pediatric emergency department

The pediatric emergency department is an important source of treatment for children with complaints related to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and may provide a teachable moment to address parent smoking. Parents who smoke were recruited from a pediatric emergency department waiting room and completed an interview assessment used to develop intervention messages. Of the 715 parents in the final sample, 77% were women, 60% White, and 60% low income (< USS30,000/year); 25% wanted to quit smoking in the next month, 50% wanted to quit within 6 months, and 48.5% "almost always" smoked outside. Parents reporting more frequent ETS protection behaviors had stronger beliefs about harmful effects of ETS and about ETS protection, and more confidence to resist smoking when tempted. Parents more ready to quit smoking were more likely to be men, and were more likely to report more daily hassles, stronger cons of smoking, higher personal vulnerability to smoking effects, and stronger beliefs about ETS protection. Findings showed that most parents in this setting are concerned about limiting their children's ETS exposure. However, this concern alone appeared insufficient to motivate parents to quit smoking. Interventions should encourage parents to limit ETS exposure, while encouraging quitting for optimal protection from effects of cigarette smoke for their children and themselves.