Illiteracy, Ignorance, and Willingness to Quit Smoking among Villagers in India

During the field work to control oral cancer, difficulty in communication was encountered with illiterates. A study to define the role of illiteracy, ignorance and willingness to quit smoking among the villagers was undertaken in a rural area surrounding Doddipatla Village, A.P., India. Out of a tot...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCancer science Vol. 83; no. 4; pp. 340 - 343
Main Authors Gavarasana, Satyanarayana, Gorty, Prasad V. S. N. R., Allam, Apparao
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.04.1992
Japanese Cancer Association
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Attitude to Health
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Education
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Illiteracy
India
Key words
Male
Medical personnel
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Multiple tumors. Solid tumors. Tumors in childhood (general aspects)
Sex Characteristics
Smoking
Tobacco Use Disorder - psychology
Tobacco Use Disorder - rehabilitation
Tumors
Asia
India
Human
Prevention
Rural environment
Poison withdrawal
Tobacco smoking
Malignant tumor
Public health
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Summary:During the field work to control oral cancer, difficulty in communication was encountered with illiterates. A study to define the role of illiteracy, ignorance and willingness to quit smoking among the villagers was undertaken in a rural area surrounding Doddipatla Village, A.P., India. Out of a total population of 3,550, 272 (7.7%) persons, mostly in the age range of 21–50 years, attended a cancer detection camp. There were 173 (63.6%) females and 99 (36.4%) males, among whom 66 (M53 + F13) were smokers; 36.4% of males and 63% of females were illiterate. Among the illiterates, it was observed that smoking rate was high (56%) and 47.7% were ignorant of health effects of smoking. The attitude of illiterate smokers was encouraging, as 83.6% were willing to quit smoking. Further research is necessary to design health education material for 413.5 million illiterates living in India (1991 Indian Census). A community health worker, trained in the use of mass media coupled with a person‐to‐person approach, may help the smoker to quit smoking.
ISSN:0910-5050
1347-9032
1349-7006
1876-4673
DOI:10.1111/j.1349-7006.1992.tb00112.x