Protecting sick children from exposure to passive smoking through mothers' actions: a randomized controlled trial of a nursing intervention

Abstract

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a nursing educational intervention with mothers of sick children to decrease passive smoking exposure.

Background: Passive smoking represents a serious health hazard and is a substantial threat to child health causing major risk factors for acute respiratory illness in children. Nurses are in a vital position to conduct health education to improve children's health, which is a legitimate activity in a pediatric ward.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted in the general paediatric wards of four major hospitals in Hong Kong. The participants were non-smoking mothers of sick children admitted to the paediatric ward and with smoking husbands living in the same household.

Findings: A total of 1483 women were randomized into the intervention (n = 752) and control (n = 731) group. The intervention group received from the nurses (1) standardized health advice; (2) two purpose-designed booklets about preventing exposure to passive smoking and helping fathers quit; (3) a no smoking sticker; and (4) a telephone reminder 1 week later. No intervention was given to the controls. Baseline comparison showed no significant differences between the two groups in the mothers' actions to protect the children from passive smoking exposure. More mothers in the intervention group than the control group had always moved the children away when they were exposed to the fathers' smoke at home at 3-month follow up (78.4% vs. 71.1%; P = 0.01) but became non-significant at 6 and 12 months.

Conclusions: A simple health education intervention provided by nurses to the mothers in a busy clinical setting can be effective in the short-term to motivate the mothers to take actions to protect the children from exposure to passive smoking produced by the fathers.