Table 3.
U.S. health professionals’ beliefs regarding smoking cessation
| Primary care physician (n = 437) | Emergency medicine (n = 408) | psychiatry (n = 400) | Registered nurse (n = 388) | Dentist (n = 391) | Dental hygienist (n = 377) | Pharmacist (n = 403) | |
| Aware Public Health Service guidelinea | 174 (39.7) | 73 (17.6) | 121 (30.1) | 69 (18.0) | 80 (20.8) | 46 (12.3) | 58 (14.5) |
| Had cessation traininga | 146 (33.8) | 77 (19.1) | 105 (26.3) | 64 (16.4) | 84 (21.3) | 122 (32.3) | N/Ab |
| Effectiveness attitudes | |||||||
| Face-to-face advicea | 348 (79.7) | 290 (70.9) | 301 (75.1) | 252 (65.0) | 250 (64.4) | 263 (70.0) | 288 (71.5) |
| Phone counselinga | 199 (45.7) | 167 (40.7) | 132 (33.2) | 156 (40.3) | 148 (38.6) | 187 (49.7) | 193 (48.2) |
| Interactive Internet | 107 (24.5) | 93 (22.6) | 95 (23.8) | 121 (31.1) | 105 (27.5) | 129 (34.3) | 125 (31.0) |
| Cessation programsa | 323 (73.7) | 307 (75.5) | 335 (83.8) | 296 (76.4) | 297 (76.8) | 300 (79.8) | 335 (83.2) |
| Nicotine patcha | 344 (78.9) | 330 (80.5) | 333 (83.5) | 302 (78.0) | 289 (74.6) | 311 (82.7) | 364 (90.3) |
| Bupropiona | 353 (80.8) | 310 (75.8) | 328 (82.2) | 230 (59.3) | 239 (61.7) | 287 (76.4) | 347 (86.2) |
| Uncomfortable to aska | 16 (3.6) | 15 (3.7) | 13 (3.4) | 30 (7.7) | 62 (15.4) | 77 (20.5) | N/Ab |
| Important professional responsibilitya | 413 (94.3) | 363 (88.7) | 355 (88.8) | 348 (90.1) | 346 (88.7) | 359 (95.7) | N/Ab |
| Patients resist advicea | 138 (31.9) | 192 (47.0) | 73 (18.5) | 202 (52.0) | 219 (55.7) | 188 (50.2) | N/Ab |
| Not appropriate servicea | 81 (18.6) | 233 (57.2) | 93 (23.5) | 98 (25.4) | 181 (45.4) | 117 (31.2) | N/Ab |
| Competing prioritiesa | 164 (37.7) | 280 (69.6) | 177 (44.2) | 216 (55.8) | 186 (46.2) | 119 (31.8) | N/Ab |
| Smoker seek primary care physician’s helpa | 279 (63.3) | 313 (77.2) | 183 (46.0) | 207 (53.4) | 242 (62.2) | 180 (48.0) | N/Ab |
| Little/no reimbursementa | 296 (68.0) | 217 (53.4) | 237 (59.3) | 192 (49.4) | 251 (64.4) | 155 (41.5) | N/Ab |
Note. a F tests for bivariate analyses of knowledge/attitude across health professional subgroups are p < .05 except “interactive Internet” with p = .06.
b
N/A = question not asked of pharmacists in survey.