Table 5.

Indoor tanning quitting experience

Themes (N)	Supporting participant quotations
Quitting process
i. Abruptly stopped (12)	“Um, I just abruptly stopped. Honestly, I was getting married last Fall, and that was the last time I used it. And then I got married, and then I… didn’t use it after that.” “Yeah. I kind of just… I pretty much just stopped goin’. It was like, I went one day; and then the next week, I didn’t go.” “Yeah. It was kind like, I was using it, and then I moved, and then I just never went back to it. So I guess it’d be KIND of abrupt?” “Um, I just cold turkeyed. Abruptly stopped.”
ii. Gradually stopped (2)	Gradually decreased use over a 3–6 month period, then stopped.
Withdrawal
i. Quitting easy, no withdrawal (9)	“No, I… it wasn’t hard for me. I… I don’t care to go back at all.” “I personally did not find it enjoyable. So, for me, quitting… like, going to…it wasn’t a big thing.” “No. I did not. Um, I’d never felt addicted to tanning beds, um, I didn’t have a problem stopping, just because once I made up my mind that it was the right thing to do, and that I needed to do it to be healthy, I just did it, um, and so I never desired to go back. I never had any symptoms of depression or, um… you know anything like that.”
ii. Quitting somewhat difficult, psychological urge (5)	“Um… and I guess you could say, yeah, I miss… I mean, I miss being able to have that… that glow? ‘Cause I always think back, and I think that looks better, uh, to have a tan? So like, I mean, I DID miss it? But, um… I wouldn’t say I had like withdrawals from it.” “Yeah, um… I would say, you know, sometimes I… well, lately, I’ve been looking in the mirror and I just see my pale face, and I miss my tanned face! (Chuckles).. So, um… so, yeah, I mean, I miss the aesthetic appeal of it, I guess. And then also, um… I mean, it is, it IS just nice. There is some… something to it, where, um… it does make you feel better. And I think once… it’s really, for me, it’s once I START again, it’s, like I just keep wanting to go back more frequently throughout the week, um… and it’s hard to stop. But then once I’m stopped, I’m okay, you know.” “Yes, I did! (Chuckles)… Just that, I mean, after a couple weeks of stopping and just noticing that, you know, my skin wasn’t as tan anymore, and it was… it was in the middle of winter, so I really enjoyed coming out and feeling warm and tan, um, and afterwards, I kind of started lookin’ a little bit at the cost of it and possibly going back. Um, I wouldn’t say I was necessarily SAD about it? But I did feel that… that urge to want to go back and do it again…I would say it was a physical urge. I just, I enjoyed the sensation, I liked how warm and happy it made me? Um… and so, I think it was more of a physical urge”
Relapse
i. No relapse (7)
ii. Yes, did relapse (2)	“Hm… yeah, I would say. I mean, this… this past time is probably a relapse, ‘cause I told myself I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t tan. Or, and I was being really good about it for a year or so (chuckles), but… and then went back. “But, uh… I don’t know. I mean, it’s just usually like a spurt of a couple of weeks each year.”