Midwives' attitudes to counselling women about their smoking behaviour during pregnancy and postpartum.
OBJECTIVE
to investigate the attitudes of midwives to counselling women about their smoking behaviour during pregnancy and postpartum.


METHODS
survey using postal questionnaires.


METHODS
the entire federal state of Mecklenburg-West-Pomerania in Germany.


METHODS
189 midwives constituting 77% of all midwives working in that State.


RESULTS
midwives reported that they assessed smoking behaviour regularly (77%), addressed the consequences of smoking (70%) and advised women to quit. Among the midwives, 81% saw low chances of success and parents' expectations as the biggest barriers to counselling. Midwives reported that about 28% of women quit following their advice.


CONCLUSIONS
smoking and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke are seen as prominent health threats that midwives reported they addressed routinely, including giving advice to stop smoking.


CONCLUSIONS
midwives should be supported in learning effective intervention strategies to further strengthen their work. They are a target population to deliver brief smoking interventions.
Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Germany. thyrian@uni-greifswald.de
Jochen René
JR
Thyrian
Wolfgang
W
Hannöver
Kathrin
K
Röske
Susann
S
Scherbarth
Ulfert
U
Hapke
Ulrich
U
John
D000328:Adult; D003376:Counseling / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008880:Midwifery / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education; D024802:Nurse's Role; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000451:nursing* / Q000517:prevention & control; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000379:methods; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires