Factors Predicting Smoking Cessation Service Behaviors of Community Nurses in Nakhon Pathom Province

Abstract

Providing smoking cessation services in the community can help people make a positive change in their smoking habits. Nurses are the healthcare personnel who are the most expected to provide smoking cessation services due to their close relationship to the population.  This predictive correlational research design study aimed to study factors predicting smoking cessation service behaviors of nurses who work in the community. Data were collected on 88 nurses working in Tambon Health Promoting Hospitals in Nakhon Pathom province by questionnaires that include demographic data, knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy related to smoking cessation service and smoking cessation service behaviors of nurses. The content validity of the entire questionnaire was 0.98 and the ones of knowledge, attitude, self- efficacy related to smoking cessation services, and smoking cessation service parts were 1.00, 0.98, 0.97, and 0.97 respectively.  Whereas, the reliability of knowledge related to smoking cessation services calculated with KR20 was 0.77. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients related to attitude, self-efficacy, and smoking cessation service behaviors were 0.75, 0.91, and 0.94, respectively. Data were analyzed using statistical package that included descriptive statistics such as frequency distributions, percentages, and standard deviations. In addition, multiple logistic regression was used to analyze factors predicting smoking cessation service behaviors of community nurses. The results illustrated that nurses who work in the Tambon Health Promoting Hospital provided good to very good smoking cessation service behaviors. The self-efficacy related to smoking cessation services (Adjusted odds ratio = 1.177, p-value = 0.001) and the experience of receiving smoking cessation service training (Adjusted odds ratio = 14.151, p-value = 0.017) were the factors that could predict the smoking cessation service behaviors of nurses for 39.9% (Model Chi-Square = 28.385, p-value < .001).  Finding from the study provided that the Provincial public health office should have an ongoing policy on the provision of smoking cessation services in the community that can be implemented at the Tambon health promoting hospital level and should encourage nurses to receive training in smoking cessation services to strengthen their self-efficacy for providing smoking cessation services.