Did You Know: Study Identifies Factors Influencing Hookah Smoking with Ethiopian & Eritrean Americans

Hookah smoking is emerging as a popular social practice and health behavior risk among Ethiopian and Eritrean Americans. A recently published study examined factors that enable theinitiation and facilitate the continuation of hookah smoking among Ethiopian and Eritrean Americans. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-five Ethiopian and Eritrean American hookah smokers residing in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area.

The researchers identified several themes under the core constructs of 'factors influencing hookah smoking initiation' and 'factors influencing hookah smoking continuation' such as curiosity, lack of health knowledge, socio-cultural acceptance, accessibility, flavor, physical dependence, physiological effects and social connections.

The researchers concluded that based on these findings, it is recommended that future prevention activities (e.g. health messages) be embedded into a comprehensive tobacco prevention approach to address individual misperceptions of harm and addiction, community social norms and environmental access around hookah smoking, which contribute to both initiation and continuation in the Ethiopian and Eritrean American populations.

Source: Kidanu et al. (2021). A qualitative analysis of Ethiopian and Eritrean Americans' initiation and continuation of hookah smoking. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, Feb 7:1-19. doi: 10.1080/15332640.2021.1877230.