Delivery of Smoking Prevention and Cessation Services to Adolescents

Abstract

Familiarity with smoking cessation guidelines and physician's specialty and practice style with adolescents are associated with better delivery of tobacco cessation counseling to adolescents.

Factors that influence adolescent reports of counseling by physicians on risky behavior

“…Our findings that adolescents reported low levels of counseling for a range of risky behaviors during health care visits are similar to findings in numerous studies [17,[21][22][23][24][25]. Specifically, our finding about missed opportunities for counseling about birth control, condom use, and STDs is consistent with prior work, as is the finding that adolescents who reported having had sexual intercourse were more likely to have discussed reproductive health care issues during their last visit [17].…”

Healthcare Providers' Beliefs and Attitudes About Electronic Cigarettes and Preventive Counseling for Adolescent Patients

“…Other research also finds differences in adolescent tobacco screening and counseling by provider training specialty. For example, compared with pediatricians, family physicians screen more of their adolescent patients for tobacco use [19] and provide adolescents with more of the smoking prevention and cessation services recommended by preventive services guidelines [11]. These differences may reflect the fact that family medicine physicians routinely serve adult, as well as pediatric, patient populations.…”

Physicians' Counseling of Adolescents Regarding E-Cigarette Use

“…In general, family medicine physicians and pediatricians do not engage in smoking cessation efforts with adolescent patients in the same way. [19, 27, 28] For example, compared to pediatricians, family medicine physicians are more likely to assess adolescents’ motivation to quit smoking, provide quit resources, and screen for use of smokeless tobacco (another “alternative tobacco product” like e-cigarettes). [27]…”