Nurses Could Help Cut Smoking Rates in China

A web-based educational smoking cessation program could help Chinese nurses play a pivotal role in helping smokers to quit, according to a new study.

Researchers the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA; USA), the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF, USA), Anhui Medical University (Hefei, China), and other institutions first conducted a survey of 2,440 nurses from eight hospitals in China (1,404 in Beijing, 1,036 in Hefei). They found that while 64% of nurses asked patients whether they smoked and 85% advised patients to quit, only 17% arranged for follow-up. Yet, when asked whether they should be involved, nearly 90% of the nurses said that believed they could play a critical role in tobacco control.

Based on the results of the survey, they then created a web-based learning education program focused on smoking cessation, with a native Mandarin speaker recording the webcast using a script that was reviewed and validated by Chinese collaborators. The content included the impact of health on smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke in China, data on prevalence of tobacco use, information on nicotine addiction and withdrawal, and evidence-based interventions that can be used by nurses to help patients quit.

All of the participants in the first survey were sent an invitation with a link to the webcast, to which 1,386 responded with follow-up data. The nurses were asked at three and six months whether there were changes in their practice. A second study reported that at three months, 84% of the nurses had viewed the webcast; at six months, the nurses said they were more likely to assist with a quitting plan and recommend a smoke-free home environment. The majority of nurses felt they should be nonsmoking role models and that they should help patients quit smoking. The two studies were published on October 1, 2015, in Journal of Advanced Nursing.

“This was the first time a web-based, distance-learning educational program on smoking cessation interventions targeting Chinese nurses was implemented and evaluated,” said lead author Prof. Linda Sarna, RN, PhD, interim dean of the UCLA School of Nursing. “More environments in China are becoming smoke-free, as recently announced in Beijing. We expect that there will be an increased demand for smoking cessation services. With the right intervention education, nurses will be positioned to play a significant role in reducing smoking rates in China.”

Three-hundred-fifty million Chinese people smoke, and one million deaths a year are attributed to smoking-related illnesses. By 2020, the figures are expected to double to two million Chinese dying annually from using tobacco. The educational program is available online at the website of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care (Vancouver, CA, USA), and can be used to provide nurses with basic evidence-based knowledge and skills for smoking cessation interventions.

Related Links:
University of California Los Angeles 
University of California, San Francisco 
Anhui Medical University