The Need for Tobacco Education: Studies of Collegiate Dental Hygiene Patients and Faculty

Abstract

The need for inclusion of comprehensive tobacco control education/training for health care providers continues to be stressed in publications addressing cessation services. The dental appointment presents an excellent opportunity to provide tobacco interventions to basically healthy people on regular intervals. The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to assess the need (stage of change and concomitant need for tobacco cessation intervention) of dental hygiene patients at a Midwest dental hygiene clinic, and 2) to assess and compare the level of tobacco intervention education currently being offered by dental hygiene educators in a Midwestern state. Patients (n=426) of a collegiate dental health clinic completed a survey that assessed the level and type of tobacco cessation intervention patients might require. A statewide sample of dental hygiene faculty (n=97) were surveyed to determine the attitudes, perceived barriers, and current practices in tobacco education offered in their programs. Of patients who currently smoked (34.5 percent), 24.7 percent indicated being in the Action stage of change; 14.2 percent were in Preparation; 22.2 percent were in Contemplation; and 29 percent were in Precontemplation. Although faculty indicated tobacco education was very important (5.03 on 1-6 scale), they felt only moderately confident delivering tobacco education (3.18 on a 1-5 scale). Only 16 percent to 35 percent of faculty reported that their curriculum included brief motivational interviewing, pharmacotherapies, or setting-up a private practice tobacco control program. The results strongly suggest the need for a comprehensive, competency-based tobacco curriculum to enhance and expand existing dental hygiene programs.

Attitudes of Italian dental and dental hygiene students toward tobacco‐use cessation

“…For these reasons, the need for inclusion of comprehensive tobacco control education/training for dental school (DS) and dental hygiene school (DHS) students continues to be stressed in publications addressing cessation services (5, 14, 15, 19, 20). Training in TUC interventions should not only transmit essential treatment skills, but should also inculcate the belief that tobacco dependence treatment is a standard of good clinical practice (5, 21).…”

“…Training in TUC interventions should not only transmit essential treatment skills, but should also inculcate the belief that tobacco dependence treatment is a standard of good clinical practice (5, 21). In the US, tobacco cessation and prevention have been included in DS and DHS course work, but unfortunately, it still lacks integration throughout the curriculum or assessment of students’ clinical competency (19, 22). Moreover, a recent European workshop on TUC in dentistry has produced suggestions and guidelines for the introduction of TUC into the undergraduate DS and DHS curricula (23).…”

Improving Tobacco Dependence Education Among the Loma Linda University School of Dentistry Faculty

“…The survey used in this investigation was adapted with permission from the instrument used by Davis et al 30 The first section covered teaching methods, formal training, and lifelong learning; the second section focused on topics covered and time devoted to such topics; the third section inquired about respondents’ evaluation of student skills; and the fourth section investigated factors related to delivery of tobacco dependence training. Of the total fifty‐seven questions, ten related to their formal training and teaching methods, fourteen focused on the topics faculty covered in their courses, seventeen related to resources and the use of the resources, and sixteen focused on assessing student skills and competency.…”

North Carolina Dental Hygiene Students’ Opinions About Tobacco Cessation Education and Practices in Their Programs

“…The consensus in the literature, however, is that the major barrier to implementation is lack of training 17 , 19 , 20 . Other studies point to the need for more inclusion of training in TCC for dental hygienists and other clinicians during their formative years of education 14 , 22 , 24 …”

“…In 2005, two studies concluded that DH curricula lacked complete integration of TCE 14 , 24 . Barker and Williams reported that only 110 (55 percent) of 200 surveyed DH programs had integrated tobacco cessation into clinical activities as of 1999 29 .…”