Smoking patterns among Jordanian health professionals: a study about the impediments to tobacco control in Jordan.
BACKGROUND
Little is known about Arab health professionals' smoking practices.


OBJECTIVE
This is the first study to examine smoking practices among Arab health professionals.


METHODS
Background: Little is known about Arab nurses and physicians' smoking patterns.


OBJECTIVE
This study aims to examine smoking patterns among Arab nurses and physicians.


METHODS
A total of 918 nurses and physicians participated in this study. Data were collected using the Global Professional Health Survey.


RESULTS
About 38.8% are current smokers. The smoking percentages for male nurses and male physicians were high (83.8%, 94.6% respectively) compared to female nurses and female physicians (16.2%, 5.4% respectively). Approximately 53.8% wanted to quit and 60.6% had made previous quit attempts that lasted for more than two days. About 64.1% believed that nurses and physicians who smoke were less likely to advise patients to stop smoking. The predictors of smoking were: age when tried first cigarettes OR=6.36, 95% CI=4.48, 9.04; father smokes OR=1.95, 95% CI=1.40, 2.72; mother smokes OR=1.99, 95% CI=1.18, 3.39; shift work OR=1.45, 95% CI=1.04, 2.03; and the interaction (gender and profession) OR=1.82, 95% CI=1.55, 2.14.


CONCLUSIONS
Effective interventions often begin with and/or depend on nurses and physicians being committed to smoking cessation. Given the very high smoking rates among nurses and physicians a key priority must be to provide quit smoking programs and to enable them to become effective champions of smoking cessation nationwide.
Shishani
Kawkab
K
College of Nursing, Washington State University, P.O. Box 1459, Spokane, WA 99210, USA.
Nawafleh
Hani
H
Jarrah
Samiha
S
Froelicher
Erika Sivarajan
ES
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007597:Jordan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000074606:Smoking Prevention