1 Smoking

Art & science health promotion
Attitudes to smoking and smoking

cessation among nurses
Chandrakumar S, Adams J (2015) Attitudes to smoking and smoking cessation among nurses.
Nursing Standard. 30, 9, 36-40. Date of submission: January 6 2015; Date of acceptance: June 21 2015.
Abstract Humanity has a long history of tobacco use.

According to Field (2008), Nicotiana tabacum
This article presents a literature review on smoking rates among was cultivated from 5000BC to 3000BC in the
nurses and the nursing role in promoting smoking cessation Ecuadorian and Peruvian Andes range. It was
worldwide. Findings included wide variations between countries in chewed, sniffed, eaten, smoked, smeared over
smoking rates among nurses, and the important influence of peers the body, and used for enemas and eye drops.
and family members on smoking behaviours. Several studies indicated The tobacco juice was also applied directly to the
that nurses would value more education on techniques to promote skin to kill parasites. South American societies
smoking cessation. used tobacco as an antiseptic and analgesic for
superficial wounds and toothache, for example.
Authors In the 16th century, tobacco appeared in
Sreejith Chandrakumar Assistant practitioner, Clifford Medical England and the custom of smoking spread
Assessment Unit, Kettering General Hospital, Kettering, England. rapidly. By World War II, smoking was common
John Adams Honorary research associate, Faculty of Nursing and throughout British society.
Midwifery, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland. Smoking is now known to cause high levels
Correspondence to: [email protected] of preventable deaths. The World Health
Organization (WHO) (2015) estimates that
Keywords tobacco kills nearly six million people per annum,
including more than 600,000 non-smokers
health promotion, literature review, smoking, smoking cessation who die from exposure to second-hand smoke.
WHO (2015) estimates that tobacco smoking will
Review kill more than eight million people annually by
All articles are subject to external double-blind peer review and 2030, by which time approximately 80% of these
checked for plagiarism using automated software. deaths will occur in low and middle-income
countries. Smoking leads to around 90% of deaths
Online from lung cancer, almost 80% of deaths from
emphysema and bronchitis, and almost 17%
For related articles visit the archive and search using the keywords of deaths as a result of heart disease (WHO 2014).
above. Guidelines on writing for publication are available at: Promoting smoking cessation is important in
journals.rcni.com/r/author-guidelines. reducing the prevalence of smoking. Smoking
cessation helps to reduce the death rate as a result
of smoking-related diseases worldwide. Healthcare
professionals have a central role in promoting
smoking cessation. WHO (2014) estimates that
THIS LITERATURE REVIEW on the smoking if all primary care providers routinely asked
habits and attitudes towards smoking cessation about tobacco use and advised tobacco users to
among nursing students and nurses focuses quit, they have the potential to reach more than
on the factors influencing the nurse’s role in 80% of all tobacco users per year; prompt 40%
promoting smoking cessation among patients. of smokers to make an attempt to quit; and help
In several previous studies, it has been suggested 2-3% of those receiving brief advice to quit
that nurses’ smoking habits affect their attitude successfully. WHO (2014) advocates the use of the
towards a smoking cessation role. In addition, 5As model (ask, advise, assess, assist and arrange)
inadequate knowledge about smoking cessation to provide a systematic framework for talking
also affects their health promotion role in smoking to patients in the primary care setting. If the
cessation (Wetta-Hall et al 2005, Biraghi and patient does not believe that smoking cessation
Tortorano 2010). will have major health benefits for them, the 5Rs
36 october 28 :: vol 30 no 9 :: 2015 NURSING STANDARD

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Art & science health promotion

Attitudes to smoking and smoking

Abstract Humanity has a long history of tobacco use.

36 october 28 :: vol 30 no 9 :: 2015 NURSING STANDARD

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