Tobacco-related medical education and physician interventions with parents who smoke: Survey of Canadian family physicians and pediatricians

Abstract

Objective: To examine the relationship between physicians' tobacco-related medical training and physicians' confidence in their tobacco-related skills and smoking-related interventions with parents of child patients.

Design: Mailed survey.

Setting: Canada.

Participants: The survey was mailed to 800 family physicians and 800 pediatricians across Canada, with a corrected response rate of 65% (N = 900).

Main outcome measures: Physicians' self-reported tobacco-related education, knowledge, and skills, as well as smoking-related interventions with parents of child patients. Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel chi(2) tests were used to examine relationships between variables, controlling for tobacco-control involvement and physician specialty. Data analysis was conducted in 2008.

Results: Physicians reporting tobacco-related medical education were more likely to report being "very confident" in advising parents about the effects of smoking and the use of a variety of cessation strategies (P < .05). Furthermore, physicians with tobacco-related training were more likely to help parents of child patients quit smoking whether or not the children had respiratory problems (P < .05). Physicians with continuing medical education in this area were more likely to report confidence in their tobacco-related skills and to practise more smoking-related interventions than physicians with other forms of training.

Conclusion: There is a strong relationship between medical education and physicians' confidence and practices in protecting children from secondhand smoke. Physicians with continuing medical education training are more confident in their tobacco-related skills and are more likely to practise smoking-related interventions than physicians with other tobacco-related training.