Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Smoking Cessation Advice among Dental Students in Delhi-NCR

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The problem of tobacco abuse is not recent and has been documented well in history in various cultures all over the world. Dental colleges house vast number of potential tobacco cessation counsellors as budding health professionals who are in direct contact with patients. AIM: The main objective of present study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of smoking cessation advice among dental students in Delhi-NCR. MATERIALS AND METHOD: A cross sectional study was conducted among 2953 undergraduate clinical students of third year, fourth year and Internship were enrolled in the study from 18 dental colleges in Delhi- National Capital Region (NCR) using a pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire was employed as an instrument. The questionnaire’s content, face and criterion validity were checked and reliability was tested using Cronbach’s Alpha and Inter Class Co-relation. Statistical analysis used included  quantitative statistics, student t test and ANOVA. RESULTS: Students demonstrated considerable knowledge regarding smoking related policies in the institution, technique and products used for smoking cessation and impact of smoking on oral health, general health and treatments to be performed. However, only half of them had a positive attitude towards tobacco cessation counselling to patients and practice this in the hospital setting. CONCLUSION:  Based on the results of the study, there is a need to further motivate students on smoking cessation advice.