Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada.
Department of General Practice at the University of Western Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2560, Australia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2024 Sep 16;21(9):1215. doi: 10.3390/ijerph21091215.
(1) Background: The increasing use of e-cigarettes/vaping in children and adolescents has been recognised as a global health concern. We aim to explore the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of General Practitioners (GPs) in Sydney regarding the use of e-cigarettes in children and adolescents and identify the barriers to addressing this issue. (2) Methods: This pilot study was a cross-sectional study conducted using an electronic questionnaire with a Likert scale and free-text responses. (3) Results: Fifty-three GPs participated in the study (male = 24 and female = 29) with a mean age of 50 ± 5.5 years. There was strong agreement (mean 4.5) about respiratory adverse effects and addictive potential. However, there was less awareness of cardiac side effects and the occurrence of burns. There is a lack of conversation about e-cigarettes in GP practice and a deficit of confidence in GPs regarding managing e-cigarette use in children and adolescents. (4) Conclusions: Our pilot study has shown that GPs are somewhat knowledgeable about the potential adverse effects of the use of e-cigarettes in children and adolescents, though there is a lack of knowledge of the complete spectrum of adverse effects and more importantly, there is a paucity of a structured approach to discuss the use of e-cigarettes with children and adolescents, and there is a low level of confidence in addressing these issues. There is a need for educational interventions for GPs to increase awareness of the potential adverse effects of using e-cigarettes and build confidence in providing management to children and adolescents regarding the use of e-cigarettes.
（1）背景：儿童和青少年中越来越多地使用电子烟/蒸气已被视为全球关注的健康问题。我们旨在探讨悉尼全科医生（GP）在儿童和青少年使用电子烟方面的知识、态度和实践，并确定解决这一问题的障碍。（2）方法：这项初步研究是一项横断面研究，使用电子问卷进行，采用李克特量表和自由文本回答。（3）结果：53 名全科医生参加了这项研究（男性=24 名，女性=29 名），平均年龄为 50±5.5 岁。对于呼吸道的不良反应和成瘾潜力，医生们的意见基本一致（平均 4.5 分）。然而，他们对电子烟的心脏副作用和烧伤的认识较低。在全科医生的实践中，关于电子烟的讨论较少，而且医生们对管理儿童和青少年使用电子烟的信心不足。（4）结论：我们的初步研究表明，全科医生对儿童和青少年使用电子烟可能产生的不良反应有一定的了解，但他们对不良反应的全貌缺乏了解，更重要的是，缺乏一种结构化的方法来与儿童和青少年讨论电子烟的使用问题，并且处理这些问题的信心较低。需要对全科医生进行教育干预，以提高他们对使用电子烟的潜在不良反应的认识，并增强他们在为儿童和青少年提供电子烟使用管理方面的信心。
