Assessment of physicians’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding smoking cessation management in the Gaza Strip

Background: Despite its negative effects, approximately 23% of Palestinians (≥ 18 years) smoke cigarettes. Studies have shown physicians to be an important channel for smoking cessation intervention. This investigation examines physicians’ smoking-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors in the Gaza strip (Palestinian Territories). Methods and Findings: A convenience sample of 154 physicians in medical and surgical units took part in this investigation (87.7% response rate). The data show that 37.8% of physicians in Gaza smoke, and most of them about 72% smoke in the hospital’s public spaces, thereby implicitly giving public approval for smoking. While 82.4% reported that they advise patients who smoke to stop, the majority (59%) also believe that their own smoking habits negatively influence the impact of that advice. Unfortunately, our survey showed that physicians’ knowledge levels towards smoking addiction and management were lower than expected (e.g. only 34% knew that nicotine dependence is a psychiatric disorder that necessitates treatment). The physicians in this study believed that the primary barriers to failure of their patients’ smoking cessation were the perceived lack of will (81.3%), and the strength of patients’ addiction (67.9%). Moreover, (61%) of physicians did not spend enough time to convince their patients to quit smoking. Conclusion: Smoking is common among Gaza-strip physicians, and unfortunately, most of them smoke in the hospital’s public spaces. Many obstacles face the smoking cessation program that some physicians linked it to patients, and others linked it to the health-care system. Furthermore, smokers in Gaza receive poor care regarding assessment, referral, and management of their smoking habit.

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Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding smoking cessation among Chinese affiliates of women’s organisations in Hong Kong

Health & Social Care in the Community ◽

10.1111/j.1365-2524.2010.00970.x ◽

2010 ◽

pp. no-no ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Doris Y. P. Leung ◽

Sophia S. C. Chan ◽

Idy C. Y. Fu ◽

Tai-hing Lam

Keyword(s):

Smoking Cessation ◽

Hong Kong ◽

Attitudes And Practices ◽

Knowledge Attitudes And Practices

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Tobacco control practices among Aboriginal health professionals in Western Australia

Australian Journal of Primary Health ◽

10.1071/py08066 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 152 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Albert (Sonny) A. G. Pilkington ◽

Owen B. J. Carter ◽

Alexander S. Cameron ◽

Sandra C. Thompson

Keyword(s):

Smoking Cessation ◽

Aboriginal People ◽

Health Workers ◽

Aboriginal Health ◽

Current Smoking ◽

Attitudes And Practices ◽

Telephone Interviews ◽

Knowledge Attitudes And Practices ◽

Major Impediment ◽

Do So

Smoking among Aboriginal people is extremely widespread (50 v. 17% of the general population). Aboriginal Health Workers (AHW) are at the vanguard of tackling this problem but many themselves smoke and little is known of their knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding smoking cessation. Structured telephone interviews were conducted with 36 AHW, including 31% current smokers, 31% ex-smokers and 38% non-smokers, to assess their current smoking cessation practices and knowledge of health risks, nicotine dependence, cessation strategies and pharmacotherapies. AHW considered diabetes, alcohol use and heart disease more problematic than smoking among Aboriginal people. Fear of appearing hypocritical stopped many who smoke from discussing smoking cessation with clients but also stopped some non-smoking AHW whose colleagues or family smoked. Cultural concerns about telling others ‘what to do’ was also a major impediment. Knowledge of the health effects of smoking was good, but knowledge of appropriate advice around cessation pharmacotherapies was suboptimal. AHW trained in smoking cessation were more knowledgeable and active in smoking cessation, but most AHW had received no training, despite being keen to do so. Specific smoking cessation training is sought and appears needed by AHW, particularly in the areas of brief interventions, motivational interviewing, dependence assessment and pharmacotherapies.

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knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) towards Covid-19 among Palestinians during the Covid-19 outbreak: a cross sectional survey

10.1101/2020.08.12.20170852 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Nouar Qutob ◽

Faisal Awartani

Keyword(s):

West Bank ◽

Gaza Strip ◽

Female Respondent ◽

Cross Sectional Survey ◽

The West ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Safety Measures ◽

Attitudes And Practices ◽

The Government ◽

Knowledge Attitudes And Practices

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) is a highly contagious illness that spreads rapidly through human to human transmission. On March 5, the government of Palestine declared a state of emergency in order to curb the spread of the virus, a declaration that it extended for a fifth time on July 5th. The degree to which a population complies with corresponding safety measures is surely affected by the people's knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) towards the disease. To explore this hypothesis, we gathered data from 1,731 Palestinians between April 19th and May 1st, 2020 through a KAP questionnaire. The participant pool represented a stratified sample of Palestinians living across a number of governorates in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, with 36.5% from Gaza and (63.5%) from the West Bank. Gender was almost equally distributed within the sample with (51%) male respondents and (49%) female respondent. The questionnaire included 17 questions about participants knowledge and awareness of COVID19, 17 questions regarding the safety measures they had taken in the wake of the outbreak and 3 questions asking them to assess the efficacy of the governments response to the pandemic. The overall correct mean of the knowledge was 79.26+-0.35. Most participants' expressed confidence that Covid19 would be successfully controlled and that Palestine could win the battle against Covid19, though 62% believed that stricter measurements must be applied. Based on the results of this study, we conclude that health education programs aimed at improving the public's understanding of COVID19 are important in helping the population maintain appropriate practices, and that findings such as those discussed in this report may provide valuable feedback to lawmakers working to stop the spread of the virus.

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Doctors’ smoking control knowledge, attitudes and practices: a cross-sectional study conducted in Shandong Province, China

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/s12889-020-10076-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Qiang Wang ◽

Xueli Zhang ◽

Zengwu Wang ◽

Shangang Feng ◽

Yang Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Smoking Cessation ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Shandong Province ◽

Smoking History ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Attitudes And Practices ◽

Smoking Control ◽

Control Knowledge ◽

Knowledge Attitudes And Practices

Abstract Background Doctors play an important role in smoking control. This study aimed to assess doctors’ smoking control knowledge, attitudes and practices to help doctors raise awareness of smoking control assistance. Methods This cross-sectional study recruited 1046 doctors from Shandong Province, China, by using multistage sampling. Participants’ information was collected by questionnaire. Pearson’s χ2 test and Fisher’s exact probability method were used to compare the distributions of categorical variables between/among groups. Results Among the participants, 14.7% were current smokers. Approximately 50.3% of participants had heard of smoking cessation drugs and 59.2% of participants thought that low-tar and low-nicotine cigarettes were as harmful to health as common cigarettes. Approximately 98.2 and 60.9% of participants agreed that smoking was related to lung cancer and male sexual dysfunction, respectively. Although 72.0% of participants believed that doctors should actively provide smoking cessation assistance, only 58.1% of participants considered that doctors should be responsible for providing smoking cessation assistance. Similarly, 85.2% of participants often asked about the smoking history of patients or their family members, while only 4.9% of participants had prescribed smoking cessation drugs for patients. Pediatricians had a higher proportion of “Agree” responses to the assessment items than doctors in other departments. Conclusions The results showed that doctors in Shandong Province did not have sufficient knowledge of smoking control. Slightly more than half of doctors thought that providing smoking cessation assistance was their responsibility. Only a few participants had prescribed smoking cessation drugs.

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