The lived experience of a changing relationship with tobacco: a perspective of individuals with serious mental illness

Abstract

Individuals experiencing serious mental illness (SMI) have significantly higher rates of tobacco use and although motivated to quit smoking are less successful with quit attempts thus increasing their risk of chronic disease. A qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study that included photo elicitation was used to gain an understanding of what the lived experience of a changing relationship with tobacco means to those living with SMI. Interviews with nine individuals with varying diagnoses of SMI, and at various stages of changing their tobacco use behaviour were interpreted to reflect six themes of the phenomenon. The findings align with the core concepts of the Trans-theoretical Model and also parallel the consumer driven concept of recovery in mental illness. The mental health care provider’s integration of tobacco cessation into practice using a recovery model approach, may serve a dual purpose of improving quit smoking rates as well as supporting the individual’s recovery in mental illness.