A Comparison on the Tobacco Control Intervention, Barriers, and Facilitators between Oncology Nurses and General Nurses in Clinical Practice

Oh, Pok Ja; Shin, Sung Rae

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was conducted to 1) find out the frequency of tobacco control intervention, barriers, and facilitators. 2) compare the differences in tobacco control intervention, barriers, and facilitators between oncology nurses and general nurses. METHOD: A sample was composed of 96 oncology nurses and 284 general nurses. The survey questionnaire was mailed out to nurses who were working at the randomly selected hospitals throughout the country. The questionnaire was adopted from the study of national survey on oncology nurse's tobacco interventions in United States by Sarnar, et al.(2000). RESULTS: Oncology nurses were found to provide tobacco control interventions more frequently comparing to the general nurses. "Patient not motivated to quit smoking", "Lack of time", "Lack of recognition/ rewards", were the most commonly identified barriers. "Patient wants to quit", "Adequate time", "Confidence in ability help people to stop smoking", were the most commonly identified facilitators. CONCLUSIONS: Although oncology nurses are in an important position in delivering tobacco interventions and providing resources, their participation in consistent delivery of a tobacco control intervention was less than desirable. To help nurses participate in the assessment of tobacco use and interventions for cessation, the development of educational program is necessary.