Explorations of self-efficacy: Personal narratives as qualitative data in the analysis of smoking cessation efforts

Abstract

Research has found that an individual's perceived self-efficacy, supported by goals and the acceptance of potential obstacles, has the ability to assist in behaviour modification. By examining the narratives of cardiovascular patients undergoing smoking cessation counselling, this research highlights factors that individuals communicate in their narratives regarding changes to self-efficacy throughout the process of smoking cessation. As such, the study examines how social cognitive theory explains individuals' abilities to change their addictive behaviours. Narrative analysis is used to establish those factors that cardiovascular patients assert to be motivating or impeding factors in their smoking cessation efforts, particularly in relation to their initial readiness to quit smoking. The findings are significant for the health domain regarding the implementation of new smoking cessation counselling practices, and for the field of communication, underlining the value of narrative analysis and interpersonal communication as tools in producing detailed results based on rich and comprehensive qualitative data.