Analysis of Smoking Cessation Methods Among Pregnant Women in the UK

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Introduction to Social Science Research Methods
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Background of the research.........................................................................................................3
Statement of problem...................................................................................................................3
Research aims..............................................................................................................................4
Research objectives.....................................................................................................................4
Research questions.......................................................................................................................4
Rationale......................................................................................................................................4
Chapter 2: Literature Review...........................................................................................................6
Introduction..................................................................................................................................6
Literature Gaps............................................................................................................................8
Summary......................................................................................................................................8
Chapter 3: Methodology..................................................................................................................9
Research philosophy....................................................................................................................9
Research design...........................................................................................................................9
Research approach.....................................................................................................................10
Data collection methods............................................................................................................10
Sampling methods.....................................................................................................................10
Ethical considerations................................................................................................................11
Limitations of research..............................................................................................................11
Reference List................................................................................................................................12
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Chapter 1: Introduction
“Smoking Cessation in Pregnancy” is one of the major concerns in the public health and
wellbeing area. It must be noted that the smoking, as an addiction in during pregnancy is
considered quite harmful and the medical experts advises that the smoking must be controlled
especially the pregnant women.
Background of the research
In pregnancy, smoking is not advisable, as it noted have several harmful effects. It is known that
the risks of smoking during pregnancy are quite high, as the smoke of the cigarettes contains
several compounds, which are reproductive toxins as well as carcinogens. It must also be noted
that nicotine is a highly addictive and toxic substance and many women addicted to smoking
undergo the nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Moreover, nicotine is one of the major
components of the cigarette smoke. NRT can help the pregnant women to get de-addicted from
smoking. The benefits of NRT are it helps in delivering nicotine without the causing any harm to
the body and nicotine delivered is without the reproductive toxins. It helps in reducing the
symptoms of withdrawal and aid in cessation of smoking. For pregnant women, this NRT shall
prove quite beneficial, as it shall help in reducing the consumption of tobacco in cigarettes (Alex
and Cressman, 2012). According to recent records of NHS, there are approximately 10.5 per cent
of women, who continue to smoke until the time of delivery and it has been noted that the total
percentage is reduced by 0.1 per cent. Therefore, this proposed research shall focus on the
smoking cessation of pregnancy (BBC News. 2019).
Statement of problem
This research shall focus on smoking cessation in pregnancy and the different ways of stopping
smoking. It must be noted that in pregnancy smoking g increases the chances of risks of
complications such as miscarriage, premature birth, and low weight of the baby or stillbirth.
Further, it sometimes leads to the foetal or infant mortality. Thus, the problem statement of this
research is to explore the condition and consequences of the smoking in pregnant women and the
methods adopted by the pregnant women to stop smoking. Moreover, the research shall focus on
the technique of NRT, as suitable method of ensuring the cessation of smoking. It is through the
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research that the researcher will be able to understand the consequences of smoking in pregnancy
and the methods adopted by the health care authorities and local bodies to spread awareness
about the harmful impacts of smoking in pregnancy (nhs.uk. 2017).
Research aims
The aim of this planned research is to explore about smoking cessation in pregnancy and
methods adopted to stop smoking.
Research objectives
The objectives of this research are as follows:
 To understand about smoking in pregnancy and its harmful impacts
 To explore about smoking cessation in pregnancy among women of UK
 To identify the suitable methods to stop smoking in pregnant women
 To explore ways to create awareness among the pregnant women regarding harmful
effects of smoking
Research questions
The research questions for this research are as follows:
 How smoking during pregnancy is harmful and what are its impacts
 What is concept of smoking cessation in pregnancy in UK?
 What are suitable methods adopted to stop smoking among pregnant women?
 What ways can be adapted to create awareness among the pregnant women regarding the
harmful effects of smoking?
Rationale
Since the focus of this research is on the “Smoking cessation in pregnancy”, it is important to
note that the smoking is one of the dangerous habits during pregnancy. This results in maternal,
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foetal, as well as infant morbidity and mortality. Further, smoking as physical and psychological
addiction is considered powerful, it is only through the intervention of a gynaecologist can help
in de-addicting of the prenatal smoking cessation (Centre, 2019). Therefore, this research topic
shall help in understanding more about the consequences of smoking during pregnancy. The
topic itself is of social concern and it must be reviewed and analysed appropriately in order to
spread awareness about this among the pregnant women. The research topic shall help to
understand the psychology behind the addiction to smoking and the ways it can be controlled.
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Chapter 2: Literature Review
Introduction
The review of literature can be defined as the discussion of the published information related to a
particular topic. It can be referred as the comprehensive summary of the preceding research
conducted in relation to different topics. Thus, the literature review surveys the different
scholarly articles as well as other relevant sources in the area of research.
Smoking during pregnancy and its impacts
According to Ekblad et al. (2015), smoking during pregnancy can affect the brain development
of the foetus. As it has been pointed out in the article, there is environmental factor, which is
maternal smoking that is known to modulate the genetically programmed development of the
brain during the developmental stages of the foetus. Further, the prenatal smoking affects the
brain development of the foetus in the womb. As the authors points out that despite the
increasing awareness and knowledge about the harmful effects of smoking during pregnancy,
there are still 5 per cent to 26 per cent of women, who continue to smoke during their gestation
period, as recorded in the United States and Europe.
The reason pointed in the article is that the young women, who are got pregnant for first time and
have low socioeconomic status, are more likely to smoke during pregnancy. Moreover, the
section of women smoking during pregnancy tends to be teenagers. Since, tobacco smoke
contains several toxic agents and health threatening chemicals, which shall hamper foetus’s brain
development. The elements, which hamper the brain development of the foetus, are nicotine and
carbon monoxide. Further, the component nicotine enters the foetus through the placenta and
accumulates in the foetal compartments at the early of 7 weeks of gestation for active as well as
passive smokers. The major impacts of smoking during pregnancy are that it restricts the body
and head growth of the foetus. In comparison to the unexposed babies, the ones exposed to
prenatal smoking have alterations in growth and body development (Oskarsdottir et al., 2017).
NRT and its benefits
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According to Kostygina et al. (2016), rate of smoking is increasing and so the tobacco
companies have started to acquire the some of the major pharmaceutical firms to manufacture the
nicotine replacement therapy products such as Zonnic nicotine gums. The tobacco organisations
are simultaneously producing the tobacco products such as chewing gums and lozenges, which
resembles the nicotine replacement products. It must be noted that Nicotine Replacement therapy
is one of the effective ways to replace smoking. According to reports, the tobacco industry is
developing different pure nicotine as well as pharmaceutical products across the world. It must
be noted that the NRT products affects the perception of the consumers about the health risks,
which is associated with the NRT-tobacco like products as well as the changes in the perception
of cessation. Moreover, the marketing of these products have changed from being regarded as the
way to quit smoking to be considered as situational substitute to tobacco. This results in blurring
the lines between the cessation products and the novel tobacco products. Therefore, the NRT is
considered as the effective method of replacing cigarettes or tobacco, and the method of
cessation to stop smoking.
On a similar note, NRT has several benefits, which have been pointed out by Prochaska (2015).
As pointed out by the author, it can be stated that this therapy has several benefits in context to
the one engaged in smoking. The Nicotine Replacement Therapy is regarded as the one of the
effective methods for cessation of smoking. The notable benefits of NRT, as pointed out in the
article are that the clinical trials indicate that the NRT helps by increasing the chances of quitting
smoking by approximately 50 to 70 per cent. Moreover, another benefit is that the NRT products
do not contain any harmful and toxic chemicals and the NRT products are noted to contain much
less amount of nicotine as compared to the normal tobacco products. Thus, it can be stated that
the NRT as technique for quitting smoking is quite effective and beneficial for the smoking
addicts.
Smoking cessation in pregnancy and its ways
As per views of Bell et al. (2018), maternal smoking is considered as one of the global public
health problem. According to health surveys, the smoking during pregnancy is one of the major
reasons for stillbirth and low body weight in developed countries. Hence, there are several
interventions techniques developed by these developed countries, which promotes smoking
cessations in pregnancy. Smoking cessation in pregnancy is considered quite effective as well as
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cost effective in improving the pregnancy and health related outcomes. Since smoking in
pregnancy is usually associated with some adverse pregnancy outcomes, the pregnant women
continue to smoke even after the onset of pregnancy. Further, another programme that
contributed towards smoking cessation in pregnancy is ‘BabyClear’, which is also an
intervention programme.
Literature Gaps
According to the review of literature and the information collected through the study of different
articles, it can be pointed out that although there has been abundant research on smoking
cessation in pregnancy yet there have been some major literature gaps in this review of literature.
As per the study of existing literature, it can be identified that there is no much research
conducted on the ill effects of Nicotine Replacement Therapy. As one article has pointed out that
the tobacco products are selling NRT products, which means that it shall have some ill effects as
well, and on it more research is required.
Summary
The literature review conducted has attempted to focus on the different aspects of smoking
during pregnancy and smoking cessation in pregnancy. Through the review of literature has
depicted that smoking during pregnancy is one of the major global concerns of public health and
well-being. Further, as pointed out that Nicotine Replacement Therapy is one of the major ways
of quitting tobacco. Lastly, another major aspects discussed in the literature review is that the
smoking cessation in pregnancy is effective as well as cost effective method of enabling pregnant
women to quit smoking by making them aware of the harmful effects of smoking.
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Chapter 3: Methodology
The research methodology consists of different parameters that must be included in a research. In
case of a social research, the research methods and designs are crucial, as these help in
understanding the social phenomenon. The social research uses range of modes in order to
evaluate the different aspects of a social phenomenon. The different aspects of social
phenomenon are determined through the census survey data, which is generated from the sea of
population, to the record of personal experiences of the social agent (Bryman, 2016). Further, the
data is also collected by monitoring the condition of the streets and by conducting an
investigation of the social research.
Research philosophy
The philosophy of social research can be categorised into four different types- positivism, and
interpretivism. For this proposed research, the positivism research philosophy shall be used.
According to positivism philosophy, society shapes the individuals, as it consists of certain social
facts. These social facts exercise control over these individuals. The research point of this
research is to uncover the laws that govern the behaviour of humans. Further, the positivism
philosophy implied to the research shall prefer quantitative methods, which helps the researcher
to remain detached from the respondents (Hughes and Sharrock, 2016).
Research design
Descriptive research design allows the researcher to describe the characteristics of the population
and analyses the phenomenon. Here, the variables are dependent on each other and therefore,
affects one another. Correlation research design allows the researcher to determine the statistical
relationship of interest to be casual. The correlation research design depicts the interrelationships
between the two variables and does not portray the cause for the relationships. Experimental
research design allows the researcher to depict the two variables including the dependent as well
as the independent variable of the research and depict the relationship between the different
variable of the research. In case of this research, the descriptive design shall be used for
understanding the social phenomenon of smoking cessation in pregnancy (Blaikie and Priest,
2019).
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Research approach
The different types of research approaches of social research are deductive, inductive and
abductive approaches. Further, the suitable research approach for this research is deductive
approach. The deductive approach has been referred as the approach in which a hypothesis or
conclusive statement has been developed through the study of the different existing literatures.
Further, the hypothesis being developed shall be tested by devising an appropriate strategy.
Unlike the inductive approach, which starts with a conclusion, the deductive approach begins
with a premise. The deductive reasoning is known to move from the generating principles, which
is true to the specific conclusion. Thus, this approach is suitable for conducting social research
(Orcher, 2016).
Data collection methods
The research methods and designs used in social research can be classified as quantitative as well
as qualitative methods. It has been noted that the social research follows systematic designs. The
quantitative method being used in the social research and this approach gathers data from
through the quantifiable evidence as well as the researcher relies on the statistical data in order to
create valid and reliable claims. Thus, it is through the surveys that the research collects the
relevant information about the social phenomenon. The surveys shall be conducted by
distributing questionnaires to the people who have experienced personally about the social
phenomenon. The qualitative research methods is used as the method in social research, which is
emphasises on the understanding of the social phenomenon. The data about of the social
phenomenon is collected through observing directly, communicating with the participants, or
analysis of existing texts. Furthermore, the analysis of the collected qualitative data involves an
approach, which is structured along with coding the raw data into a set of systematic
information. For this research, both quantitative and qualitative research methods shall be used
(Nardi, 2018).
Sampling methods
The sampling methods that shall be used for this research is probability sampling, which enables
the researcher to choose from a pool of respondents. In probability sampling the technique, the
random sampling technique is suitable for the selection of respondents from huge population of
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respondents. Further, for this research, the sample size selected is 30 pregnant women in specific
region of London in order to conduct the quantitative survey and for qualitative method; the
sample size is two gynaecologists from any hospital in that selected region in London (Palinkas
et al., 2015).
Ethical considerations
The researcher must comply with the following ethical considerations:
 The researcher must not question the respondents about any specific to their
complications or attempt to influence them.
 Further, the researcher adheres to the Data Protection Act 2018, which protect the
information related to the research and safeguard the personal information of the
respondents.
 The researcher must not prepare questions, which can harm the sentiments or disrespects
the doctors.
Limitations of research
The limitations of the research are as follows:
 The researcher faced a challenge in surveying, as many pregnant women did not accept
that they continue to smoke even during being pregnant.
 Another major limitation of this research is the time and budget constraints. Since, the
research required to be completed within a specific time and budget, there were some
tasks that required more time and finance.
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Reference List
Alex M. and Cressman, P. 2012. Smoking cessation therapy during pregnancy. Canadian Family
Physician, [online] 58(5), p.525. Available at:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3352787/ [Accessed 30 Mar. 2019].
BBC News. 2019. Pregnant women smoking rates 'concern'. [online] Available at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-40286702 [Accessed 30 Mar. 2019].
Bell, R., Glinianaia, S.V., van der Waal, Z., Close, A., Moloney, E., Jones, S., Araújo-Soares, V.,
Hamilton, S., Milne, E.M., Shucksmith, J. and Vale, L., 2018. Evaluation of a complex
healthcare intervention to increase smoking cessation in pregnant women: interrupted time series
analysis with economic evaluation. Tobacco control, 27(1), pp.90-98.
Blaikie, N. and Priest, J., 2019. Designing social research: The logic of anticipation. John Wiley
& Sons.
Bryman, A., 2016. Social research methods. Oxford university press.
Centre, N. 2019. The “BabyClear” programme helped pregnant women stop smoking in North
East England. [online] Discover.dc.nihr.ac.uk. Available at:
https://discover.dc.nihr.ac.uk/content/signal-000403/the-babyclear-programme-helped-pregnant-
women-stop-smoking-in-north-east-england [Accessed 30 Mar. 2019].
Ekblad, M., Korkeila, J. and Lehtonen, L., 2015. Smoking during pregnancy affects foetal brain
development. Acta paediatrica, 104(1), pp.12-18.
England, L., Tong, V.T., Rockhill, K., Hsia, J., McAfee, T., Patel, D., Rupp, K., Conrey, E.J.,
Valdivieso, C. and Davis, K.C., 2017. Evaluation of a federally funded mass media campaign
and smoking cessation in pregnant women: a population-based study in three states. BMJ
open, 7(12), p.e016826.
Hughes, J.A. and Sharrock, W.W., 2016. The philosophy of social research. Routledge.
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