Effectiveness of a smoking cessation educational program for Japanese nurses on subsequent changes of behavior in delivering smoking cessation counseling

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Despite the effectiveness of smoking cessation counseling, participation of nurses in delivering smoking cessation advice has been far from satisfactory in practice. Training nurses is considered to be important for increasing selfefficacy and skills for routine delivery of smoking cessation counseling. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a smoking cessation educational program for Japanese nurses on subsequent changes of their behavior in delivering smoking cessation counseling, three months later. METHODS We ran a 6-hour smoking cessation educational program for nurses recruited from the Nursing Associations of 13 prefectures in Japan between May 2019 and February 2020. Surveys were conducted by questionnaire before the start of the program and 3 months thereafter. The successful implementation of smoking cessation counseling behavior was evaluated according to the 5As of the Clinical Practice Guidelines for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange). RESULTS We received 289 responses 3 months after the program finished (response rate 46.0%). At that time, 43% of participants had increased the frequency of 'Ask' and 42.1%, 50%, 39.3%, and 28.6%, respectively, had also increased their frequency of 'Advise', 'Assess', 'Assist', and 'Arrange'. We found that smoking cessation counseling was significantly more frequently delivered after the educational program for those participants who had routinely delivered 'Advise' before the program as measured by increased delivery of 'Assess' and 'Assist'

Outcomes of video training on smoking cessation counseling for nurses

“…The change in knowledge and skills found in this study is similar to that demonstrated by other cessation training 12 , 13 . This study found that video training, which incorporates a 5As counseling approach and motivational interviewing techniques through role modeling, could enhance knowledge and confidence in cessation practice.…”

Nurse-led lifestyle counseling in Polish primary care: the effect of current health status and perceived barriers

“…Other publications also indicate that despite the effectiveness of smoking cessation counseling, in practice, the participation of nurses in providing smoking cessation advice is far from satisfactory ( 60 ). The most effective smoking cessation strategy is advice and care from nurses ( 61 ).…”

Evidence of validity of the Smoking Cessation Counseling scale - Brazilian version

“…In the literature, there is research that has studied the approach of nurses to tobacco users with the aim of understanding the experience of these professionals in conducting smoking cessation counseling. The studies show that nurses have difficulties in identifying appropriate resources for each audience, referring and applying the resources of the Tobacco Control Program, as well as providing pharmacotherapy for smokers assisted in primary health care centers (6,14,(24)(25)(26) .…”

“…The research cited above shows that these difficulties are explained by the lack of training for professionals, high turnover of professionals in the teams, lack of professionals from other areas and lack of medicines in the health services (6,14,(24)(25)(26) . The nurses also report the need to increase the frequency of training provided by the Ministry of Health, which focuses on the individual approach to smokers through exclusive nursing consultations with smoking patients (6) .…”

“…The application of the items mentioned requires continuous training and the provision of resources by government bodies, in order to enable nurses to understand all the aspects, concepts, treatments and approaches related to the care of smoking patients (6,(24)(25)(26) . Brazilian studies show that nurses report a shortage of training and resources to conduct smoking cessation counseling (6,24) , which justifies the behavior of the data and the AVE values for the aforementioned items.…”