Self-perceived changes in professionals of substance misuse outpatient treatment centres in Catalonia (CAS) after receiving training on smoking intervention

The prevalence of smoking in individuals treated for Substance Use Disorders is up to four times
higher than in the general population and remains stable. The lack of training in smoking cessation
may partly explain the low level of intervention in the substance misuse outpatient treatment
centres (CAS) in Catalonia. The aim of this study is to evaluate changes in the short and medium
term in professionals and their teams after training. A brief questionnaire is administered
to attendees (n=23) before, after and three months after the training. Before training, one in
four helps their patients to stop smoking, and three out of four report poor self-confidence to
treat tobacco dependence. Overall, the training increases knowledge and self-efficacy. Although
intervention increases after training, it drops in the medium term. 71.4% of the participants claim
they had attempted to spread part of the training to their teams, and 63.2% of professionals
reported that their team has taken some action to improve smoking cessation support. Health
authorities should commit to offer continuing education training in smoking cessation for staff
working at substance misuse treatment centres, to help integrate tobacco use interventions
into routine practice.

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Authors

  • Gemma Nieva - Unidad de Conductas Adictivas. Servicio de Psiquiatría. Hospital Universitario Vall d’Hebron/ Institut de Recerca Vall d’Hebron, Barcelona. CIBERSAM

  • Sílvia Mondon - Unidad de Adicciones. Servicio de Psiquiatría. Hospital Clínico, Barcelona

  • Montse Ballbè - Unidad de Adicciones. Servicio de Psiquiatría. Hospital Clínico, Barcelona / Unidad de Control del Tabaco. Programa de Prevención y Control del Cáncer. Institut Català d’Oncologia. L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona)

  • Eugeni Bruguera - Unidad de Conductas Adictivas. Servicio de Psiquiatría. Hospital Universitario Vall d’Hebron/ Institut de Recerca Vall d’Hebron, Barcelona. CIBERSAM

  • Grupo de trabajo de Tabaco de la Coordinadora de CAS de Cataluña† - El Grupo está formado también por: Margarita Cano Vega, Blanca Carcolé Batet, Teresa Fernández Grané, Àngela Martínez Picó, Mª Cristina Pinet Ogué, Mª Antònia Raich Soriguera, Pilar Roig Cutillas, Imma Serra Salvat y Jaume Serrano Jordán

Keywords:

Smoking cessation, training, drug abuse treatment, drug addiction.

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