Attitudes, perceptions, habits of smoker, non-smoker general practitioners and why they fail to motivate patients to quit smoking

摘要

Objective: To investigate attitudes, perceptions and habits of General Practitioners (GPs) who smoke and those who do not smoke cigarettes, with particular attention to smoking cessation. Methodology: Two physician groups were targeted: GPs who smoke and those who do not smoke. They were screened based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. A unique country-specific questionnaire was developed to conduct a 20-minute telephonic interview. Survey was started from December 2006 and completed in May 2007. Simple statistical calculations were used to interpret the data. Results: GPs view smoking as the most harmful behaviour among the risk factors. 94% agreed that smoking should be classified as a medical condition and if it were so would encourage more smokers to quit smoking and they have suggested the need of prescription therapies for their patients to quit smoking. Conclusion: Significant discontent exists between physicians and smokers. The main cause of this discontent is physician perceived inability to provide successful solutions to quit smoking due to low awareness level and lack of training. This issue, when properly addressed, can be useful as an additional tool to aid patients in quitting.