Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was done to identify the significance of smoking experiences in high school girls, and to define essential structures of the experience.
METHODS
A phenomenological approach was used for this study. Data were collected using in-depth interviews. Study participants were 8 high school girls who had experience with smoking. The method proposed by Giorgi (1985) was used to guide the process of data analysis.
RESULTS
Themes which emerged from the data were: 'Beginning to smoke affected by surroundings', 'Self intention to begin smoking', 'Stimulated smoking drive (appetite)', 'Giving emotional comfort', 'Mood of overlooking teenagers' smoking', 'Smoking dead zone', 'Knowing that smoking is not suitable', 'Habitual smoking', 'Prejudice against women smoking', and 'Admitting that women smoke'.
CONCLUSION
The findings provide an understanding of the smoking experience by high school girls and indicate that in order to develop the most effective nursing interventions to help female adolescents stop smoking, consideration needs to be given to the developmental stage of high school students.

• Keywords: Smoking;Adolescent;Qualitative research