Becoming The Self Without Cigarettes: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Interpretation Of Ex-Smokers' Life Experiences
DOI
https://doi.org/10.53625/ijss.v6i2.13119Keywords
quit smoking; hermeneutic phenomenology; life experienceAbstract
Quitting smoking is a process of behavior change that is not only related to quitting cigarette consumption, but also involves changing the way individuals understand their body, self, social environment, and life. This research aims to understand the life experiences of individuals during the process of changing smoking cessation behavior and interpret the meaning of these changes in the formation of a new self-identity. This study uses a qualitative method with a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. The research participants consisted of seven lecturers from the Faculty of Sports and Health Sciences, State University of Makassar who had direct experience in the process of quitting smoking. Data were collected through reflective in-depth interviews and analyzed using the process of hermeneutic phenomenological interpretation through in-depth readings, hermeneutic circles, identification of meaningful themes, and researcher reflexivity. The results of the study show that the experience of quitting smoking is a journey of self-transformation that takes place gradually. Four main meanings are found in the participants' experiences, namely the body as the initial space for the emergence of awareness of change, changes in the individual's relationship with himself, the transformation of the world of life through changes in the environment and social relations, and the process of becoming a new self after quitting smoking. Cigarettes that were previously part of routines, social experiences, and individual identities slowly change their meaning as participants find new ways of understanding their health, abilities, and life direction. This study concludes that quitting smoking is not just a change from smoking behavior to non-smoking, but is an existential transformation process that changes the way individuals are in their lives. These findings affirm the importance of a health promotion approach that is not only oriented towards the delivery of health risk information, but also pays attention to life experiences, personal meaning, and the process of forming an individual's new identity in living a life without smoking.
Downloads
References
Dahlberg, K., Dahlberg, H., & Nyström, M. (2008). Reflective Lifeworld Research. Student literature.
Doll, R., Peto, R., Boreham, J., & Sutherland, I. (2004). Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years’ observations on male British doctors. BMJ, 328, 1519. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.328.7455.1519
Finlay, L. (2011). Phenomenology for Therapists: Researching the Lived World. Wiley-Blackwell.
Gadamer, H. G. (2004). Truth and Method (2nd revised ed.). Continuum.
GBD 2019 Tobacco Forecasting Collaborators. (2021). Forecasting the effects of smoking prevalence scenarios on years of life lost and years lived with disability from 2020 to 2050. The Lancet Public Health, 6(10), e646–e657. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(21)00207-2
Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and Time. Harper & Row.
Kvale, S., & Brinkmann, S. (2009). InterViews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry. Sage Publications.
Livingstone-Banks, J., Lindson, N., Hartmann-Boyce, J., et al. (2023). Nicotine receptor partial agonists for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD006103.pub8
Marmot, M., Allen, J., Boyce, T., Goldblatt, P., & Morrison, J. (2020). Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years On. Institute of Health Equity.
Meijer, E., Vangeli, E., Gebhardt, W. A., & van Laar, C. (2020). Identity processes in smokers who want to quit smoking: A longitudinal interpretative phenomenological analysis. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 24(5), 493–517. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459318817923
Merleau-Ponty, M. (2012). Phenomenology of Perception (D. A. Landes, Trans.). Routledge. (Original work published 1945).
Prochaska, J. O., & DiClemente, C. C. (1983). Stages and processes of self-change of smoking: Toward an integrative model of change. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51(3), 390–395. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.51.3.390
Stead, L. F., Carroll, A. J., & Lancaster, T. (2017). Group behaviour therapy programmes for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 3, CD001007. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD001007.pub3
Todres, L. (2007). Embodied Enquiry: Phenomenological Touchstones for Research, Psychotherapy and Spirituality. Palgrave Macmillan.
Van Manen, M. (2014). Phenomenology of Practice: Meaning-Giving Methods in Phenomenological Research and Writing. Left Coast Press.
Vangeli, E., & West, R. (2012). Transition towards a ‘non-smoker’ identity following smoking cessation: An interpretative phenomenological analysis. British Journal of Health Psychology, 17(1), 171–184. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8287.2011.02031.x
West, R. (2017). Tobacco smoking: Health impact, prevalence, correlates and interventions. Psychology & Health, 32(8), 1018–1036. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2017.1325890
West, R., & Brown, J. (2017). Theory of Addiction (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
World Health Organization. (2023). WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2023. World Health Organization.
Zahavi, D. (2019). Phenomenology: The Basics. Routledge.
