Awareness and needs of smoking cessation services for female emotional laborers, parcel delivery workers, transportation workers, and construction workers in Korea

Abstract Background With the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and consequent COVID-19 blues striking the world, cigarette sales rose by 5.4% in 2020 compared to the previous year. Female emotional labor, parcel delivery, transportation, and construction workers are vulnerable classes for smoking compared to office workers. Although South Korea has implemented various smoking cessation clinics, quitlines, and smoking cessation services, these occupations have poor access to these services. This study evaluated smoking related characteristics and awareness, as well as needs for smoking cessation services, among female emotional laborers, parcel delivery workers, transportation workers, and construction workers. Methods A total of 819 female emotional laborers, parcel delivery workers, transportation workers, and construction workers aged 19 years and above were recruited nationwide. After excluding participants with missing data, 808 were included in the final analysis. Participants’ age, marital status, weekly work hours, job stress, age at cigarette smoking initiation, average daily smoking, types of tobacco products, smokers among close people, attempts to quit smoking, plans to quit smoking, awareness of smoking cessation services, and needs for smoking cessation services were surveyed. Results Compared with parcel delivery workers, attempts to quit smoking were significantly higher among female emotional laborers (OR = 11.18, CI = 6.32–19.79), transportation workers (OR = 2.52, CI = 1.42–4.47), and construction workers (OR = 1.78, CI = 1.17–2.73), and plans to quit smoking were also significantly higher among female emotional laborers (OR = 5.43, CI = 3.57–8.26), transportation workers (OR = 3.42, CI = 2.14–5.46), and construction workers (OR = 2.27, CI = 1.52–3.40). Prior utilization of smoking cessation services was also higher among female emotional laborers (OR = 8.81, CI = 5.60–13.86), transportation workers (OR = 3.92, CI = 2.40–6.40), and construction workers (OR = 1.40, CI = 0.95–2.05). Awareness of smoking cessation services was significantly lower among construction workers (OR = 0.40, CI = 0.18–0.91) compared to parcel delivery workers. Conclusions Visiting smoking cessation programs and mobile applications to help quit smoking are needed for parcel delivery workers, and their work environment should also be improved. Smoking cessation services should be promoted at work sites, and smoking related education should be provided and promoted among managers.