title: [Midwives and smoking--attitudes, smoking status and counselling competence in the course of training].
abstract: Tobacco consumption is a major public health threat. Midwives can contribute to the reduction of tobacco use among pregnant women and young families. It can be assumed that personal smoking behaviour and knowledge of harmful effects influences counselling activities. The aim of this study was to assess smoking status, nicotine dependency and the will to change of midwifery students in german-speaking countries. Broad data on this population is not available so far. In 2010, a self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted among Austrian, German and Swiss midwifery schools. Sociodemographic characteristics, smoking habits, personal attitudes towards smoking, knowledge of cessation strategies, perceived self-efficacy and competence to counsel pregnant women regarding their smoking habits of midwifery trainees were examined. 1 126 students and 38 teaching midwives answered this questionnaire (RR=61.8%). 22.7% are daily or occasional smokers. 6.8% have to be considered as medium and heavy smokers. 98.1% consider cessation counselling for pregnant and breast-feeding women as a midwife's task, while 76.5% feel competent enough to do so. 75.5% rate cessation counselling through midwives as effective stop-smoking procedures compared to blurry knowledge on related health risks and effective stop-smoking strategies. The self-reported smoking prevalence is considerably lower than in previous studies and other populations. Knowledge of harmful effects and of effective treatment options needs improvement. Counselling competence needs to be included in a broader way in midwifery curricula.
authors: Institut für Arbeitsmedizin, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Freie Universität & Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin. karin.vitzthum@charite.de
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Vitzthum
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Laux
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Koch
authors: D A
authors: DA
authors: Groneberg
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Kusma
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Schwarz
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Pankow
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Mache
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D037001:Directive Counseling / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008880:Midwifery / Q000193:education* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013336:Students, Health Occupations / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult