Dataset Information

Smoking behaviour, knowledge and attitudes among Family Medicine physicians and nurses in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Smoking rates among the general population in Bosnia and Herzegovina are extremely high, and national campaigns to lower smoking rates have not yet begun. As part of future activities of the Queen's University Family Medicine Development Program in the Balkans Region, technical assistance may be provided to Bosnia and Herzegovina to develop of national tobacco control strategies. This assistance may focus on training doctors and nurses on smoking cessation strategies with a view to helping their patients to stop smoking. Given this important role that health professionals have, data is needed on smoking rates as well as on smoking behaviour among doctors and nurses in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This study therefore seeks to determine the smoking rates and behaviour of family medicine physicians and nurses in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to determine how well prepared they feel with respect to counselling their patients on smoking cessation strategies.

Methods

The WHO Global Health Professional Survey, a self-administered questionnaire, was distributed to physicians and nurses in 19 Family Medicine Teaching Centres in Bosnia and Herzegovina in June 2002. Smoking rates and behaviour, as well as information on knowledge and attitudes regarding smoking were determined for both physicians and nurses.

Results

Of the 273 physicians and nurses currently working in Family Medicine Teaching Centres, 209 (77%) completed the questionnaire. Approximately 45% of those surveyed currently smoke, where 51% of nurses smoked, compared to 40% of physicians. With respect to knowledge and attitudes, all respondents agreed that smoking is harmful to one's health. However, "ever" smokers, compared to "never" smokers, were less likely to agree that health professionals who smoke were less likely to advise patients to quit smoking than non-smoking health professionals. Less than half of physicians and nurses had received formal training in smoking cessations strategies, but about two thirds of health professionals felt very or somewhat prepared to counsel their patients on how to quit smoking.

Conclusions

Our study indicates that almost half of Family Medicine health professionals in Bosnia and Herzegovina are smokers. This indicates a severe public health problem throughout the country. Steps need to be taken at a national level to address the fight against tobacco.

SUBMITTER: Hodgetts G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC449709 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Smoking behaviour, knowledge and attitudes among Family Medicine physicians and nurses in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Hodgetts Geoffrey G Broers Teresa T Godwin Marshall M

BMC family practice 20040611

<h4>Background</h4>Smoking rates among the general population in Bosnia and Herzegovina are extremely high, and national campaigns to lower smoking rates have not yet begun. As part of future activities of the Queen's University Family Medicine Development Program in the Balkans Region, technical assistance may be provided to Bosnia and Herzegovina to develop of national tobacco control strategies. This assistance may focus on training doctors and nurses on smoking cessation strategies with a vi ...[more]

PMID: 15193160

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Project description:BACKGROUND:The wars that ravaged the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the 1990's resulted in the near destruction of the healthcare system, including education of medical students and the training of specialist physicians. In the latter stages of the war, inspired by Family Medicine programs in countries such as Canada, plans to rebuild a new system founded on a strong primary care model emerged. Over the next fifteen years, the Queen's University Family Medicine Development Program in Bosnia and Herzegovina played an instrumental role in rebuilding the primary care system through educational initiatives at the undergraduate, residency, Masters, PhD, and continuing professional development levels. Changes were supported by new laws and regulations to insure sustainability. This study revisited Bosnia and Herzegovina (B-H) 8-years after the end of the program to explore the impact of initiatives through understanding the perspectives and experiences of individuals at all levels of the primary care system from students, deans of medical schools, Family Medicine residents, practicing physicians, Health Center Directors and Association Leaders. METHODS:Qualitative exploratory design using purposeful sampling. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups with key informants were conducted in English or with an interpreter as needed and audiotaped. Transcripts and field notes were analyzed using an interpretative phenomenological approach to identify major themes and subthemes. RESULTS:Overall, 118 participants were interviewed. Three major themes and 9 subthemes were identified including (1) The Development of Family Medicine Education, (subthemes: establishment of departments of family medicine, undergraduate medical curriculum change), (2) Family Medicine as a Discipline (Family Medicine specialization, academic development, and Family Medicine Associations), and (3) Health Care System Issues (continuity of care, comprehensiveness of care, practice organization and health human resources). CONCLUSIONS:Despite the impact of years of war and the challenges of a complex and unstable postwar environment, initiatives introduced by the Queen's Program succeeded in establishing sustainable changes, allowing Family Medicine in B-H to continue to adapt without abandoning its strong foundations. Despite the success of the program, the undervaluing of Primary Care from a human resource and health finance perspective presents ongoing threats to the system.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Evidence-based medicine (EBM) aims to assist physicians in making medical decisions based on the integration of the current best evidence, clinical expertise, and patients' values. Extensive research has been conducted regarding physicians' awareness, attitudes, barriers, and knowledge about EBM. In Croatia, there is a lack of research on this topic, especially among family physicians (FP). The aim of this study was to assess the awareness, attitudes, barriers, and knowledge about EBM among FPs in Croatia after six years of educational activities organized and provided by Cochrane Croatia. METHODS:In a cross-sectional study, conducted in 2016, we offered to FPs in Croatia a printed or online validated questionnaire to assess attitudes toward and barriers when considering the use of EBM, awareness about sources of evidence, and their level of understanding of evidence-based medicine terminology. The physicians were approached during mandatory continuing medical education courses and through their professional associations. We compared results from two groups of physicians, one with family medicine specialization and the other without. RESULTS:295 (14%) of all officially registered FPs responded to the questionnaire. Respondents were very positive toward the promotion and usage of EBM. 160 (67%) indicated that they did not have access to the Cochrane Library. The majority reported lack of time available for finding evidence (80%), and patients' unrealistic expectations that influence doctors' choice of treatment (72%). Between the two groups of physicians, more family medicine specialists reported time restrictions for finding evidence. The highest level of EBM terminology understanding was reported for study design terms, and the lowest for statistical terms. CONCLUSIONS:This study demonstrated that FPs in Croatia had very positive attitudes toward the use of EBM, they agreed that EBM improves patient care, and they estimated that more than two thirds of their practice is EBM-based. Compared to the results of the first assessment of physicians in 2010, there was some increase in the level of EBM awareness among FPs. However, to further increase the quality of EBM practice in Croatia better access to EBM sources and further educational activities are needed.

Project description:BackgroundThe 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) has not been translated into Bosnian, nor has a study been conducted employing a sample of family medicine physicians and nurses to examine the instrument's reliability, validity, and factorial structure. Thus, the goal of this study was to investigate the reliability and construct validity of the Bosnian version of the PSS-10 among family medicine professionals.Study designCross-sectional descriptive study provided among healthcare professionals in family medicine, using Google forms questionnaire (PSS-10) in Bosnian language.MethodsTranslation of PSS-10 in Bosnian is performed according to the proposed set of standardized guidelines. The questionnaire was sent on the email addresses of family physicians and nurses in whole Bosnia and Herzegovina. The collected data were subjected to reliability testing, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, which tested three alternative plausible models suggested by the extant literature: single factor, correlated two-factor and bifactor.ResultsA total of 272 out of 440 (RR = 61.3) nurses and physician working in family medicine in Bosnia and Herzegovina completed the PSS-10 Bosnia and Herzegovina version (BH). Participants were aged 25 to 69, with a mean age of 44.7 (±10.55). Most participants were women (86.8%) and physicians (58.8%) with specialisation in family medicine (43%). The overall Cronbach's alpha was 0.87 and the test-retest reliability coefficient was 0.88. Exploratory Factor Analysis yielded 2 factors with eigenvalues of 4.77 and 1.35, accounting for 61.2% of variance. Factor 1 consisted of 6 items representing ''perceived distress'', whereas Factor 2 consisted of 4 items representing ''perceived coping''. The Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a very good fit of this bifactor model to this sample.ConclusionsOur results implies that the PSS-10-BH, as a bifactor model with good reliability and validity, may accurately measure the stress levels of family medicine physicians and nurses.

Dataset Information

Smoking behaviour, knowledge and attitudes among Family Medicine physicians and nurses in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Smoking behaviour, knowledge and attitudes among Family Medicine physicians and nurses in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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