Hispanic physicians' tobacco intervention practices: a cross-sectional survey study

Hispanic physicians' tobacco intervention practices: a cross-sectional survey study

Date: November 14, 2005
Creator: Mas, Francisco G. Soto; Papenfuss, Richard L.; Jacobson, Holly E.; Hsu, Chiehwen Ed; Urrutia-Rojas, Ximena & Kane, William M.
Description: This article discusses Hispanic physicians' tobacco intervention practices. Abstract: Background: U.S. Hispanic physicians constitute a considerable professional collective, and they may be most suited to attend to the health education needs of the growing U.S. Hispanic population. These educational needs include tobacco use prevention and smoking cessation. However, there is a lack of information on Hispanic physicians' tobacco intervention practices, their level of awareness and use of cessation protocols, and the type of programs that would best address their tobacco training needs. The purpose of this study was to assess the tobacco intervention practices and training needs of Hispanic physicians. Methods: Data was collected through a validated survey instrument among a cross-sectional sample of self-reported Hispanic physicians. Data analyses included frequencies, descriptive statistics, and factorial analyses of variance. Results: The response rate was 55.5%. The majority of respondents (73.3%) were middle-age males. Less than half of respondents routinely performed the most basic intervention: asking patients about smoking status (44.4%) and advising smoking patients to quit (42.2%). Twenty-five percent assisted smoking patients by talking to them about the health risks of smoking, providing education materials or referring them to cessation programs. Only 4.4% routinely arranged follow-up visits or phone calls for ...
Contributing Partner: UNT College of Education