HEALTH EDUCATION RESEARCH ‘We’re not gonna have a big quit if loose ones are around’: urban, African American smokers’ beliefs concerning single cigarette use reduction Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/her/advance-article/doi/10.1093/her/cyab014/6343133 by guest on 01 October 2021 Lilianna Phan1*, Charlene Chao-Li Kuo2, Craig S. Fryer2,3, Mia A. Smith-Bynum4, Pamela I. Clark2 and James Butler III2 1Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20007, USA, 2Department of Behavioral and Community Health, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, MD 20742, USA, 3Maryland Center for Health Equity, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, MD 20742, USA and 4Department of Family Science, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, MD 20742, USA *Correspondence to: L. Phan. E-mail:
[email protected] Received on July 28, 2020; editorial decision on February 26, 2021; accepted on March 2, 2021 Abstract These findings can inform enforcement policies and health education interventions targeting Single cigarette use (i.e. loosies, loose ones, single cigarette use among urban, African singles) poses risks for smoking continuation American smokers who use singles. among urban, African American smokers. There is, however, limited research to inform health education interventions addressing this Introduction behavior. We conducted 25 in-depth interviews with urban, African American users (ages Overall, the smoking rate among U.S. adults has 20–58 years) from Baltimore, MD and the declined; however, racial and ethnic tobacco-related District of Columbia in June and July 2018 to as- disparities persist [1].