Attitudes and behaviours in smoking cessation among general practitioners in Finland 2001.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether smoking by general practitioners (GPs) and gender influence smoking cessation advice. METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire, originally developed by the WHO and modified according to the Finnish health care system was sent by mail to physicians who were members of the Finnish Medical Association (FMA). Participants were restricted to those who were living in Finland and were younger than 65 years. Numbers of participants was 3,057 and the response rate 69%. RESULTS: Smoking male GPs gave less smoking cessation advice only to patients with a stomach ulcer or patients using oral contraceptive pills compared with their non-smoking colleagues. Male GPs gave less smoking cessation advice to pregnant patients or patients using contraceptive pills than female GPs. Female smoking GPs less likely advised patients who were pregnant or who were using oral contraceptive pills to stop smoking than non-smoking female GPs (p <0.001). The percentage of GPs who have never distributed smoking cessation information was lower in men (41%) than in women (45%; p-value: 0.052). CONCLUSION: Minor differences in anti-smoking advice to patients between smoking and non-smoking general practitioners were found. The little involvement of GPs in health promotion activities regarding tobacco control is of concern.

Comparison of knowledge, attitudes and behaviour regarding smoking among Estonian and Finnish physicians.

OBJECTIVES: To compare smoking behaviour, attitudes and opinions towards smoking and smoking cessation among Estonian and Finnish physicians. METHODS: A cross-sectional postal survey using a self-administered questionnaire was carried out among 2,480 Estonian and 2,075 Finnish physicians. RESULTS: Daily smoking prevalence was higher among Estonian physicians than among their Finnish counterparts in both male (18.6% and 6.7%) and female (6.6% and 3.6%). Compared to Estonia, physicians in Finland more often agreed that smoking is very harmful to their health, that trying to convince people to stop smoking is their responsibility and that smoking prevention should be part of the normal and special training of health professionals. In both countries, non-smoking physicians held more unfavourable attitudes towards smoking than those who were smoking. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians' own smoking patterns and quitting behaviour are important because physicians serve as models for their patients and play a key role in the reinforcement of smoke-free health facilities. These results remain a challenge to medical educators, especially in Estonia. Estonia needs to improve medical education in terms of motivating physicians to ask about the smoking patterns of their patients and of training medical students and resident physicians to counsel their patients to stop smoking.

Changes in smoking prevalence among Finnish physicians 1990-2001.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to investigate the changes in smoking habits among physicians in Finland between 1990 and 2001. METHODS: Three independent cross-sectional surveys using a self-administered questionnaire regarding smoking behaviour as well as knowledge, skills and attitudes in smoking were carried out by mail among physicians in Finland in 1990, 1995 and 2001. RESULTS: The prevalence of daily smoking decreased in both men and women between 1990 and 1995, but did not decrease any further between 1995 and 2001. In 2001, 7% of male and 4% of female physicians reported smoking daily. Daily smoking was highest (8-12%) among male physicians in the oldest age group. Occasional smoking was more prevalent at a younger age (22-24% in males and 7-10% in females). CONCLUSION: Smoking prevalence among physicians in Finland is relatively low and has not changed since 1995. A further reduction in daily and occasional smoking requires a different, specially adjusted and physician-targeted approach.