Table 3.
Examples of Theme 2: Advice About Alcohol Use was Typically Vague and/or Tentative, Whereas Smoking-Related Advice was More Common and Usually More Clear and Firm
| Alcohol-related advice |
| *Provider 1: “… we don't ever really recommend that you drink.”…“[Four to six drinks per day] is a little excessive.”…“… it'd be worthwhile trying to cut that back a little bit if you can” (Patient F) |
| *Provider 4: “… you're going to need to be real careful about that drinking … you sound like you get yourself into trouble when you [laughs] get too much on board …” (Patient D) |
| Provider 2: “Probably the best, uh, the most important thing is for you to stay sober and that's great you're able to stop and uh, you know, it's—it's hard to do. So apparently, if you have a good support system and stick with some aftercare or else the, the outpatient program here even though you stopped I think it's worthwhile to keep on with that” (Patient A) |
| Provider 5: “Right. If you've developed that pattern over a long period of time and, you know, I guess, um, when I look at—you know, statistically, um, looking at, um, a drinking pattern that involves, if we say three of those kind of drinks, um, a night, um, 21 over the course of a week, if that's your pattern, that statistically puts you in a category to be—to have—to have more problems, uh, um, social problems, um, health problems, those kind of things, um …” (Patient E) |
| Smoking-related advice |
| *Provider 1: “The important things are to sort of set a specific date when you're going to quit. Because it's easy to say, yeah, I'm going to quit some day. But what you need to do is say, I'm going to quit next—in, you know, 2 or 3 weeks, and let people around you know that, yeah, this is when I'm going to stop smoking so they aren't tempting you, and they can help you. …“I'm going to support you when you're, you know, when you're feeling that craving and try to help you get through the—the worst part of it”…“And give some real thought to quitting smoking” (Patient F) |
| *Provider 4: “[Your wife] should quit too…you need to bring your whole household in”…“I'd like to see you have a little bit more of a plan in place.”“…I want you to go [to a smoking cessation clinic]” (Patient D) |
| Provider 1: “And the smoking can affect your blood pressure too …” (Patient A) |
| Provider 6: “… I would encourage you to keep working on the smoking cessation” (Patient G) |
| Provider 6: “I strongly believe that the smoking is worsening your health” (Patient J) |
| Provider 7: “… I want to shake on it that you'll stay off them [cigarettes] or if you feel the urge you give me a call” (Patient H) |
*
Advice about alcohol and tobacco use offered during the same visit.