title: Smoking patterns among Jordanian health professionals: a study about the impediments to tobacco control in Jordan.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Washington State University, P.O. Box 1459, Spokane, WA 99210, USA.
authors.forename: Kawkab
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shishani
authors.forename: Hani
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nawafleh
authors.forename: Samiha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jarrah
authors.forename: Erika Sivarajan
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Froelicher
mesh_terms: 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