Melis Selamoglu, Ayse Emel Onal, Bircan Erbas, Selma Karabey, Meryem Merve Oren, Mahmut Talha Ucar, Chris Barton
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Family physicians (FPs) are the first point of contact for people who smoke who are seeking to quit smoking in Türkiye. We aimed to explore Turkish FPs knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of e-cigarettes as smoking cessation aids.
Methods: Eleven in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with FPs in Istanbul, Türkiye. Participants were recruited through purposeful sampling from respondents to a previous survey study completed with 243 participants in 2022. The survey explored the knowledge, attitudes and recommendations of FPs in Istanbul about e-cigarettes as smoking cessation aids. Participants indicated availability for a follow up qualitative interview. FPs were interviewed and audio files were transcribed verbatim. QSR NVivo was used to aid coding, thematic analysis and retrieval of quotes.
Results: FPs expressed they had little knowledge about e-cigarettes and this impacted their confidence to discuss these with their patients. They held a range of views on the harms of e-cigarettes and the potential for a gateway effect and dual use with tobacco cigarettes. FPs stated they would not recommend e-cigarettes as smoking cessation aids and half were not keen on a prescription model for e-cigarettes. FPs did not feel comfortable or have the confidence to answer patient questions about e-cigarettes if asked. They were keen to learn more about e-cigarettes and receive training and education to be able to better inform their patients about e-cigarettes as smoking cessation aids.
Conclusion: FPs in Türkiye require more understanding of e-cigarettes if they are to answer patient questions about using e-cigarettes to support smoking cessation. They perceived to be lack of evidence and research on the harms of vaping and as such were not currently willing to recommend them to patients. FPs desired more information and resources from trusted sources to support them to learn about e-cigarettes in order to discuss them with patients. Providing evidence-based information and upskilling FPs on e-cigarettes may increase their knowledge and confidence to have discussions about e-cigarettes for smoking cessation.
期刊介绍：
Addiction Science & Clinical Practice provides a forum for clinically relevant research and perspectives that contribute to improving the quality of care for people with unhealthy alcohol, tobacco, or other drug use and addictive behaviours across a spectrum of clinical settings.
Addiction Science & Clinical Practice accepts articles of clinical relevance related to the prevention and treatment of unhealthy alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use across the spectrum of clinical settings. Topics of interest address issues related to the following: the spectrum of unhealthy use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs among the range of affected persons (e.g., not limited by age, race/ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation); the array of clinical prevention and treatment practices (from health messages, to identification and early intervention, to more extensive interventions including counseling and pharmacotherapy and other management strategies); and identification and management of medical, psychiatric, social, and other health consequences of substance use.
Addiction Science & Clinical Practice is particularly interested in articles that address how to improve the quality of care for people with unhealthy substance use and related conditions as described in the (US) Institute of Medicine report, Improving the Quality of Healthcare for Mental Health and Substance Use Conditions (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2006). Such articles address the quality of care and of health services. Although the journal also welcomes submissions that address these conditions in addiction speciality-treatment settings, the journal is particularly interested in including articles that address unhealthy use outside these settings, including experience with novel models of care and outcomes, and outcomes of research-practice collaborations.
Although Addiction Science & Clinical Practice is generally not an outlet for basic science research, we will accept basic science research manuscripts that have clearly described potential clinical relevance and are accessible to audiences outside a narrow laboratory research field.
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