%0 Journal Article
%T Smoking behaviour, knowledge and attitudes among Family Medicine physicians and nurses in Bosnia and Herzegovina
%A Geoffrey Hodgetts
%A Teresa Broers
%A Marshall Godwin
%J BMC Family Practice
%D 2004
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2296-5-12
%X The WHO Global Health Professional Survey, a self-administered questionnaire, was distributed to physicians and nurses in 19 Family Medicine Teaching Centres in Bosnia and Herzegovina in June 2002. Smoking rates and behaviour, as well as information on knowledge and attitudes regarding smoking were determined for both physicians and nurses.Of the 273 physicians and nurses currently working in Family Medicine Teaching Centres, 209 (77%) completed the questionnaire. Approximately 45% of those surveyed currently smoke, where 51% of nurses smoked, compared to 40% of physicians. With respect to knowledge and attitudes, all respondents agreed that smoking is harmful to one's health. However, "ever" smokers, compared to "never" smokers, were less likely to agree that health professionals who smoke were less likely to advise patients to quit smoking than non-smoking health professionals. Less than half of physicians and nurses had received formal training in smoking cessations strategies, but about two thirds of health professionals felt very or somewhat prepared to counsel their patients on how to quit smoking.Our study indicates that almost half of Family Medicine health professionals in Bosnia and Herzegovina are smokers. This indicates a severe public health problem throughout the country. Steps need to be taken at a national level to address the fight against tobacco.The 1950s ground-breaking studies by Doll and Hill [1-3] demonstrating the effect of smoking on morbidity and mortality have been replicated time and time again, whereby epidemiologic studies are no longer needed to show that smoking is strongly related to adverse health. Rather, efforts in many parts of the world are now being directed towards the fight against tobacco, which have been successful throughout several countries. One example where smoking cessation programs and public health campaigns have been instrumental in decreasing overall smoking rates countrywide is Canada. In 1965, between 42% and 45
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2296/5/12