Training health professionals in smoking cessation.
BACKGROUND
There is good evidence that brief interventions from health professionals can increase rates of smoking cessation. A number of trials have examined whether specific skills training for health professionals leads them to have greater success in helping their patients who smoke.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this review was to assess the effectiveness of training health care professionals to deliver smoking cessation interventions to their patients, and to assess the additional effects of prompts and reminders to the health professional to intervene.


METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group trials register for studies relating to training.


METHODS
Randomised trials in which the intervention was training of health care professionals in smoking cessation. Trials were considered if they reported outcomes for patient smoking rates at least six months after the intervention. We reported on process outcomes, but we excluded trials that reported effects only on process outcomes and not smoking behaviour.


METHODS
We extracted data in duplicate on the type of health professionals, the nature of and duration of the training, the outcome measures, method of randomisation, and completeness of follow-up. The main outcome measures were 1. Rates of abstinence from smoking after at least six months follow-up in patients smoking at baseline. 2. Rates of performance of tasks of smoking cessation by health care professionals including offering counselling, setting quit dates, giving follow-up appointments, distributing self-help materials and recommending nicotine gum.


RESULTS
Healthcare professionals who had received training were more likely to perform tasks of smoking cessation than untrained controls. Of eight studies that compared patient smoking behaviour between trained professionals and controls, six found no effect of intervention. The effects of training on process outcomes increased if prompts and reminders were used.


CONCLUSIONS
Training health professionals to provide smoking cessation interventions had a measurable effect on professional performance. There was no strong evidence that it changed smoking behaviour.
Lancaster
T
T
ICRF General Practice Research Group, Division of Public Health and Primary Health Care, Institute of Health Sciences, Old Road, Headington, Oxford, UK, OX3 7LF. tim.lancaster@dphpc.ox.ac.uk.
Silagy
C
C
Fowler
G
G
D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*