Smoking behaviour, knowledge and attitudes among Family Medicine physicians and nurses in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

BackgroundSmoking rates among the general population in Bosnia and Herzegovina are extremely high, and national campaigns to lower smoking rates have not yet begun. As part of future activities of the Queen's University Family Medicine Development Program in the Balkans Region, technical assistance may be provided to Bosnia and Herzegovina to develop of national tobacco control strategies. This assistance may focus on training doctors and nurses on smoking cessation strategies with a view to helping their patients to stop smoking. Given this important role that health professionals have, data is needed on smoking rates as well as on smoking behaviour among doctors and nurses in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This study therefore seeks to determine the smoking rates and behaviour of family medicine physicians and nurses in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to determine how well prepared they feel with respect to counselling their patients on smoking cessation strategies.MethodsThe WHO Global Health Professional Survey, a self-administered questionnaire, was distributed to physicians and nurses in 19 Family Medicine Teaching Centres in Bosnia and Herzegovina in June 2002. Smoking rates and behaviour, as well as information on knowledge and attitudes regarding smoking were determined for both physicians and nurses.ResultsOf the 273 physicians and nurses currently working in Family Medicine Teaching Centres, 209 (77%) completed the questionnaire. Approximately 45% of those surveyed currently smoke, where 51% of nurses smoked, compared to 40% of physicians. With respect to knowledge and attitudes, all respondents agreed that smoking is harmful to one's health. However, "ever" smokers, compared to "never" smokers, were less likely to agree that health professionals who smoke were less likely to advise patients to quit smoking than non-smoking health professionals. Less than half of physicians and nurses had received formal training in smoking cessations strategies, but about two thirds of health professionals felt very or somewhat prepared to counsel their patients on how to quit smoking.ConclusionsOur study indicates that almost half of Family Medicine health professionals in Bosnia and Herzegovina are smokers. This indicates a severe public health problem throughout the country. Steps need to be taken at a national level to address the fight against tobacco.

Estudio de corte transversal sobre el estado de conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas de médicos colombianos ante el tabaquismo

“…De los fumadores actuales, solo el 12.54% ha intentado dejar de fumar, resultado bajo comparado con el obtenido en la implementación de la GHPSS donde 60% de los estudiantes deseaban cesar el hábito (22) y al encontrado en personal de la salud en Chipre donde el 71.8% desean abandonar el cigarrillo (23), aunque similar al evidenciado en médicos familiares de Bosnia y Herzegovina donde el 17% eran exfumadores (9). En cuanto al grado de dependencia al cigarrillo el 20.45% sienten deseos de fumar a los 60 minutos de despertar, resultado inferior al encontrado en profesionales de la salud en España y en Laos, donde el 54.2% y el 43% tiene deseo de fumar a los 60 minutos de despertar (17,24).…”

“…En este estudio el 99.30% apoya las políticas de prohibición a la venta y el 88.58% la disminución de la publicidad del tabaco, similar a lo encontrado en Bosnia y Herzegovina y en dos estudios en la India donde el 93.2% y el 91.6% respectivamente está de acuerdo con la prohibición de la venta y la publicidad (9,12,30) pero, diferente a lo encontrado en Laos donde los fumadores eran menos propensos a apoyar la prohibición de la publicidad y los avisos en los paquetes de cigarrillos (p<0.01) (17).…”

“…También se encontró que cerca del 50% habían recibido entrenamiento en las técnicas para el cese del hábito, pero sólo el 36% se sentía preparado para brindar asesoría (9). Sin embargo, se destaca la diferencia con datos adquiridos en encuestas en otros países europeos donde la prevalencia de personal de salud fumador en algunos casos no pasa del 30% (9).…”

Efficicacy of an education program on smoking and its hazards: Evaluation of a conference

“…Hemşirelerde sigara kullanma oranı ülkemizde yapılan çalışmalarda %40,3-60,5, diğer ülkelerde yapılan çalışmalarda ise %7-51 aralığında bulunmuştu [5][6][7][8] . Yapılan çalışmalarda geliş-miş ülkelerde düşük oranlar ifade edilirken, gelişmek-te olan ülkelerde daha yüksek oranlar görülmektedir.…”

The influence of social environment on the smoking status of women employed in health care facilities

“…Surveys conducted among employees in the health care facilities show that most smokers are among nurses, more than in the general population. Only in Canada and Finland, the number of smokers among nurses is lower than in the general population (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12). Work environment is one of the dominant factors that promote smoking.…”