Program to encourage student
smokers to quit their habit
By Kyle Boggs
Summer
Reporter
According to the Purdue Student Wellness Office,
a recent survey concluded that 29 percent of all college students
in the United States are addicted to smoking cigarettes.
Though that figure may seem high, it was also
determined that 36 percent of Purdue students smoke.
Director of the Student Wellness Office, Nancy
Maylath, said the statistic made them realize that there was a need
to address student health behaviors.
This fall, every residence hall on campus will
be a non-smoking facility. The halls will be working with the Wellness
Office and the School of Nursing to develop a program that will offer
information to students in the hopes that they won't smoke. The program
will also provide phone counseling by student nurses to those who
are trying to quit. The counseling will be integrated into the curriculum
for nursing students.
Though an official name for the program is yet
to be named, it is known as a Smoking Cessation: Initiative, thus
encouraging students to take the initiative to quite smoking.
"It would be great if we could help students
choose not to smoke," said Maylath. "Lately there has been a lot of
chest and lung related illnesses on campus. I'm sure a lot of them
are directly related to smoking."
Next fall, a large media campaign in advertising
will begin to promote the program. Those involved will also try to
persuade physicians, primarily on campus, to better inform certain
patients of the harmful effects of smoking as well as provide students
with information about the program. Purdue's statistic of 36 percent
can easily be decreased if there was more emphasis on the harmful
effects, said Maylath.
People begin smoking for a number of reasons.
Many aren't aware that it is much easier to start smoking than stop.
"I started when I was 14," said Liberal Arts
spring graduate Megan Bigelow. "I was hanging out with a bad crowd
and they got me into it."
Sue Abney, Wellness Office Nutritional Educator,
said, "Peer pressure is obviously a large factor for starting, especially
in high school."
"It's an addiction, it's habitual and it's connected
with certain daily routines, so it’s a physical as well as a
psychological addiction," said Maylath.
David Warner, a junior in the School of Technology,
recently quit smoking.
"Although I looked really cool with a cigarette
in my mouth, I wasn't as cool as I thought," he said.
"There is a huge issue with weight control,"
said Abney. "Many people would sell their soul to be thin; if they
know that they would gain a few pounds while trying to quit, they
simply wouldn't want to."
"We're trying to change the climate around here,"
she said.
