A Survey on the Practice on Smoking Cessation among Pharmacy Graduates in Thailand

Abstract

Objective: To survey the extent of provision of smoking cessation service among pharmacy graduates in Thailand and identify its affecting factors. Methods: This survey research collected data from 358 graduates of 19 Faculties of Pharmacy in Thailand who graduated during academic year 2018 - 2020. The subjects were conveniently selected. Data collection was conducted from April 2022 to May 2022 using online questionnaires developed by the researchers Results: Most of the subjects were female (67.6%) with average age of 26.15 ± 1.73 years. 76.5% of them graduated in the program on pharmaceutical care, while 60.9% graduated in the academic year 2020. 95.5% of them had pharmacy licenses. 41.9% were hospital pharmacists, and had 1-1.9 years of work experience (42.2%). Most of them had learned about cigarette (77.7%) in school with an average of 9.25 ± 7.29 hours. 60.9% of subjects had provided smoking cessation services during their studies with an average of 3.14 ± 3.90 cases per year. After graduation, most of them never offered smoking cessation services, never attended additional training and never participated in a smoking cessation project (64.8%, 84.6%, and 90.8%, respectively). Factors contributing most to the provision of smoking cessation services were happiness at work followed by executives at all levels giving importance to smoking cessation services, having clear goals and setting effective work systems (mean scores of 3.84±1.06, 3.74±1.13 and 3.69±1.09 respectively, from the full score of 5). Work experience, training on smoking cessation after graduation, and providing smoking cessation services during schooling showed a statistically significant correlation with the provision of smoking cessation service (P<0.05). Conclusion: The role of pharmacists in providing smoking cessation services should be emphasized during schooling and post-graduate training. Pharmacy organizations with clear policy and work plans on the service and with a good working environment were facilitating factors for pharmacists to provide smoking cessation services for public.