Smoking-cessation counseling practices of college/university health-care providers--a theory-based approach.

OBJECTIVE

The author's purpose in this study was to examine the relation between smoking cessation counseling self-efficacy, knowledge of smoking cessation counseling, motivation to counsel smokers, and barriers to performing smoking cessation counseling, relative to the smoking cessation counseling stage of change.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS

Members of The American College Health Association, who are health-care providers (N=296), completed a survey measuring the predictor variables of knowledge, motivation, self-efficacy and perceived barriers, and the members' readiness for conducting smoking-cessation counseling with students.

RESULTS

The majority reported that they were knowledgeable about smoking-cessation counseling practices, they were motivated to conduct counseling, and they had the confidence (self-efficacy) to perform smoking-cessation counseling effectively. Significant barriers to performing smoking cessation counseling included the lack of reimbursement for counseling, lack of training in smoking-cessation counseling, and lack of resources for follow-up. The author found a moderate negative correlation between self-efficacy for smoking-cessation counseling and barriers to performing smoking-cessation counseling.

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that researchers should address the barriers that prevent health-care providers from performing smoking-cessation counseling. Interventions on increasing healthcare providers' counseling self-efficacy may be instrumental in moving them further along the stage continuum and increase their readiness to perform smoking cessation counseling.