Health education research
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Health education research · Oct 2003
Health care practitioners' motivation for tobacco-dependence counseling.
Smoking cessation counseling by practitioners occurs at low rates in spite of strong evidence that counseling increases quit rates and reduces patient mortality. In a preliminary study, 1060 New York State physicians completed a survey concerning use of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) Guidelines, perceived autonomy and perceived competence for counseling, perceived autonomy support from insurers, and barriers to counseling. ⋯ The primary, longitudinal study of 220 health care practitioners who attended a smoking cessation workshop predicted change in the practitioners' perceived autonomy and perceived competence for counseling as a function of the degree to which they experienced the workshop instructor as autonomy-supportive. In turn, change in perceived autonomy predicted change in time spent counseling and change in use of the AHCPR guidelines.
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Health education research · Aug 2003
Comparative StudyAdolescents' attitudes and self-perceptions about anti-tobacco advocacy.
Communities are organizing into coalitions with the goal of reducing tobacco use, particularly among youth. Adolescents could make effective and persuasive anti-tobacco advocates in their respective communities, but their attitudes about tobacco advocacy and their perceptions of their own abilities as advocates are unknown. Therefore, the present project assessed attitudes and self-perceptions about anti-tobacco advocacy in 159 high school students attending a tobacco advocacy conference. ⋯ Overall, these high school students were moderately positive about anti-tobacco advocacy; girls more so than boys. Further, they were very positive about their own commitment to avoid tobacco and willingness to speak to others personally, but only moderately positive about their activism abilities. An implication is that community coalitions that include youth might want to focus on building their activism skills as they guide them in managing their youthful energy and enthusiasm.
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Health education research · Jun 2002
Patient information on phantom limb pain: a focus group study of patient experiences, perceptions and opinions.
Educating patients about their condition is regarded as a fundamental step in pain management. This study used focus groups with patients to explore their experiences and perceptions of the information on phantom pain that they received before and after amputation, and their views on improving this information. Thirty-one patients with a lower limb amputation attended one of seven focus groups. ⋯ Professionals, particularly nurses and surgeons, were regarded as the best source of information, although peer support was seen to be important. These findings indicate that people require timely up-to-date information on phantom pain which sensitively addresses the variability of the experience and provides the foundation for ongoing pain management. We propose that the information process could be improved by ensuring that professionals use standard information for patients derived from purposefully written sections in national guidelines.
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Health education research · Feb 2002
ReviewReductions in smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption associated with mass-media campaigns.
This paper examines reductions in smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption associated with state and local mass-media campaigns. We review the findings of the empirical literature on campaigns targeted at the general population. We then discuss the findings on state- and community-level youth-oriented campaigns. ⋯ We conclude by examining issues that warrant additional research. The scale and duration of expenditures, the content of ad messages, and other tobacco control polices are aspects of media programs that may help explain differences among study results. In particular, tobacco control polices that are implemented during the campaign often make it difficult to identify the specific influence of media campaigns alone.