Reconceptualizing motivation for smoking cessation among people with rheumatoid arthritis as incentives and facilitators

Objectives Smokers with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may have different motivations for, and barriers to, quitting. Understanding the motivations of smokers and ex‐smokers with RA will help in the design and implementation of targeted smoking cessation interventions for people with RA that are not based solely on extrapolation from the general population or populations with other chronic illnesses. Methods Twenty‐nine smokers and 10 recent ex‐smokers with RA participated in semi‐structured interviews via telephone 18 months after being offered a smoking cessation intervention in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The sample consisted of 27 women and 12 men (age range 32–78 years), of whom 14 had received the intervention, 14 had been in the control group and 11 had declined participation in the trial. Results Thematic analysis led to the formulation of four “incentives” to quit and five “facilitators” of quitting for people with RA. Desiring improvements to health (overall and specific to arthritis), social relationships and avoiding costs were incentives to quit. Coping with stress without smoking, commitment, mental preparedness, willpower and interventions were facilitators of quitting. Conclusions Becoming aware of the effects of smoking on arthritis provides an important motivation to quit smoking that may counter RA‐specific barriers to smoking cessation. Further research is needed to test whether similar incentives and facilitators of smoking cessation exist in other chronic illnesses, and how to develop interventions to address these motivational processes.