What role does pleasure play in public health, health professional and lay discourse and could recognising the role and place of pleasure in everyday experiences explain the limited success of efforts to change health-related behaviours?
With limited success in getting people to give up things they enjoy, and evidence of cultural differences in how pleasure is understood, we can no longer overlook the role pleasure plays in shaping behaviours.
This pilot project will explore how pleasure is discussed, repressed or otherwise negotiated in interviews with those attempting to quit smoking.
The project will use a longitudinal qualitative design. These interviews will probe how people anticipate and manage renouncing pleasure, and whether other pleasures replace what they gained from smoking.
The results from this study will provide preliminary pilot data for a proposed larger study.