An assessment of smoking cessation counseling among dental hygienists / 대한구강보건학회지

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess recognition of smoking cessation education among dental hygienists and knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to smoking cessation counseling as well as to obtain basic data on smoking cessation counseling for effective oral care in dental offices. METHODS: After approval was obtained from the institutional review board, this study was carried out dental hygienists working in dental hospitals and clinics in Busan City, Gyeongnam and Gyeongbuk province, Korea. The final analysis captured information from 300 participants. Data were analyzed with SPSS 21.0. RESULTS: Of the 300 participants, 94.0% agreed that smoking cessation education is necessary, 17.5% reported smoking cessation education experience, and 65.7% reported intention to participate in smoking cessation education in the future. Dental hygienists' smoking cessation counseling activities showed a significant correlation between attitudes and practices (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Counseling for smoking cessation provided by dental hygienists was positively correlated with the presence of smoking cessation knowledge and with the intention of participating in smoking cessation education. For dental hygienists to effectively counsel patients regarding smoking cessation, it is essential to integrate smoking cessation education into the dental school curriculum and to offer continuing education post-graduation.

Assessment on the impact of smoking cessation counseling service and related influencing factors under comprehensive community-based intervention programs about the community medical staff in Hangzhou city / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective To evaluate the short-term impact of comprehensive community-based intervention programs on smoking cessation counseling services provided by community medical staff and related influencing factors in three districts of Hangzhou city.Methods Within the framework of Community Interventions for Health (CIH) Program,a community trial was conducted in two districts (Xiacheng and Gongshu) and a district (Xihu) as control,by a parallel comparison and random grouping based quasi-experimental design.Two independent questionnaire-based surveys of cross-sectional samples in the intervention and comparison areas were used to assess the impact of intervention.Results There were 299 and 141 medical staff in the areas of intervention and ‘ control',respectively.For the intervention area,the quantity of available resources increased from 2to 3 and the quantity of used resources increased from 1 to 3 (both P＜0.001),while the area of control had a downward trend for both quantities.For the ratios of well-readiness for smoking counseling,in the intervention area were 35.5％,52.0％ before and after intervention (P＜0.001),while the ‘controlled' area they were 28.1％,39.3％,respectively (P=0.162).A slight increase was seen in the intervention area for the proportion of the medical staff who had been provided smoking cessation counseling,as ≥90％ patients (including asking smoking status,announcing risks related to the risks of smoking and advising smoking cessation programs etc.),while the proportion decreased in the area of ‘control'.The improvement of preparedness would promote medical staff to ask their patients about smoking status (OR=1.43,P=0.007),while all factors as a whole would not influence the medical staff to inform patients about the danger of smoking and advice patients to quit smoking.Conclusion Comprehensive community-based interventions could increase the opportunities for medical staff to acquire and utilize smoking cessation resources to some extent,as well as promote those staff' s preparedness.However,intervention itself might fail to improve the behavior of providing such services.Support that came from the policy or from the institutions also need to be strengthened.