Smoking cessation counselling: what do Tunisian medical trainees think?

Abstract

<b>Introduction:</b> Smoking is a public health problem. Physicians have an important role in tobacco control, especially through minimal interventions. <b>Aim:</b> to assess attitudes of medical trainees toward smoking cessation counselling (SCC) <b>Methods:</b> This was a cross-sectional and observational descriptive study through a questionnaire distributed online between July and November 2022, targeting Tunisian medical trainees. They were asked about their attitudes and practices toward smoking cessation. <b>Results:</b> We collected a total of 121 responses. Of these, 76% of trainees practiced a medical specialty, 19% a surgical specialty and 5% a fundamental specialty. The average age of the respondents was 29 years ±2.6, with a gender ratio (F/M) of 4.26. Only 13.2% of trainees were smokers. Most of trainees (66.1%) checked systematically the smoking status of their patients; however only 37% advised systematically patients to quit smoking (40.9% of non-smoker trainees versus 16.7% of smokers; p=0.01). One third of trainees (31.4%) did not believe in the effectiveness of SCC. Of these; only 5.3% had a training and 2.6% had a university degree in smoking cessation versus 22% (p=0.006) and 12% (p=0.02), respectively in those who believed in SCC. There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the type of specialty. <b>Conclusion:</b> SCC does not seem to be acquired in the habits of trainees. More targeted interventions should be considered among trainees to improve their role in smoking cessation.