Journal of professional nursing : official journal of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing
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We report on the findings of a national survey that examined factors that influence faculty's intentions to integrate tobacco education in their advanced practice nursing curricula. The addiction component of tobacco use is taking its toll on the health of 48 million smokers in the United States. Several national health authorities recommend and/or mandate that tobacco prevention and tobacco cessation be addressed at every point of entry in the health care delivery system. ⋯ The findings revealed that sex (chi(2) = 7.949, P = .024), level of education (chi(2) = 26.853, P = .0005), years of academic teaching (chi(2) = 19.418, P = .013), and combined clinical and course responsibility (chi(2) = 10.430, P = .0236) were significant external (demographic) factors and that behavioral beliefs (attitude about tobacco education) demonstrated the strongest relationship with intention scores (r = 0.876, P < .0005). Overall, 62.7% of nurse practitioners reported high scores (>or=5, on a scale of 1-7) for intentions to integrate tobacco education, as compared with 37.5% of nurse midwives, 30.3% of clinical nurse specialists, and 8.7% of nurse anesthetists. This study adds to the growing body of evidence that nursing curricular gaps with tobacco education exist and that national efforts are needed to ensure that widespread changes occur to help reduce the morbidity and mortality related to tobacco use.