Effectiveness of an elderly smoking cessation counseling training program for social workers: a longitudinal study.
BACKGROUND
To achieve greater coverage of the elderly smoking population, the provider/client interface could be broadened to include other professional groups who work with the elderly. We evaluated the effectiveness of a 9-h smoking cessation counseling training program for social workers.


METHODS
We recruited 177 social workers and used a preintervention/postintervention longitudinal design, analyzed by multilevel, multivariable modeling to adjust for between-subjects covariables and within-subjects correlation in repeated measurements at baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months after training.


RESULTS
Overall, knowledge improved from a mean score of 6.70 +/- 1.03 (+/- SD) at baseline to 7.35 +/- 0.75 at 12 months (range, 0 to 8 correct responses), attitude from 2.84 +/- 0.41 to 3.10 +/- 0.48, and self-perceived competence from 2.49 +/- 0.38 to 2.85 +/- 0.36 (range, 1 to 4, where 4 is best). On multilevel modeling, three of the four "A"s (ask, advice, assist, arrange as per the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality framework) registered significant gains from baseline to 12 months overall, whereas "advice" did not show any appreciable change.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings demonstrate that our smoking cessation training program achieved sustained effectiveness in the first year after training in enhancing knowledge, positively shifting attitudes, boosting self-perceived competence, and increasing the self-reported frequency of practicing three of the four As in their routine interaction with elderly clients.
Leung
Gabriel M
GM
Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, 21 Sassoon Rd, Hong Kong, China.
Chan
Sophia S C
SS
Johnston
Janice M
JM
Chan
Steve K K
SK
Woo
Pauline P S
PP
Chi
Iris
I
Lam
Tai-Hing
TH
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D037001:Directive Counseling / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D011379:Prognosis; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D012947:Social Work / Q000193:education*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires