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.