Abstract

Introduction: Today, water pipe smoking is widespread in the world that can lead to death of million individuals. This study aimed to determine the predictors of nicotine dependence among women water pipe consumers in Bushehr in 2013-2014.

Methods: In this cross-sectional (descriptive and analytical) study, 430 women water pipe smokers were selected via simple sampling and snowball methods. A structured interview was conducted on 20 women water pipe consumers in order to design a researcher-made questionnaire via appropriate statistical tests. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software.

Results: The overall mean and standard deviation scores for nicotine dependence were 36.73±13.57 and 40.71±12.63, respectively. The highest and the lowest score were related to nicotine dependence and perceived behavioral control, respectively. All constructs explained water pipe dependence behavior except instrumental attitude and subjective norm. In fact, self-efficacy and affective attitude were introduced as the strongest and the weakest predictors respectively.

Conclusion: Regarding unfavorable status of nicotine dependence behavior among water pipe consumer women, intervention programs are recommended in order to enhance the self-efficacy in decreasing this behavior, decrease appropriate affection to water pipe and decrease descriptive norm among these women.