Supervisors info:
Ιωάννης Τούντας, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Βαρδαβάς Κωνσταντίνος, Επιστημονικός συνεργάτης, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Παπαθανασίου Χρυσοβαλάντης, Επιστημονικός συνεργάτης, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
Background
Smoking is one of the biggest epidemics worldwide and also, active smoking and exposure to passive smoking are responsible for numerous adverse pregnancy outcomes for women and their infants. The purpose of this study was to develop guidelines for smoking cessation during pregnancy and the postpartum period, to conduct an educational intervention to midwives for smoking cessation and to examine whether or not this educational intervention improved the attitudes, the knowledge and the strategies which midwives use for smoking cessation during pregnancy and postpartum period.
Tools and Methods
The educational intervention took place in 15 October 2016 in Athens. The study sample consisted of 58 midwives. Data were analyzed before the intervention, immediately after and, approximately, two months after the intervention. The main issues that were assessed, are the knowledge, the attitudes, the role and the confidence of the midwives in providing smoking cessation intervention to pregnant smokers, as well as the practices that they used. Training was based on the 5A’s model: Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange.
Results
According to the results, the daily training and the guidelines increased the knowledge and the skills of the midwives. The midwives maintained their knowledge according to the measurements after the two-month period, since only a minor fall was observed, which was not statistically significant (p>0,001). Moreover, the midwives reported that, in general, they do not receive training on smoking cessation at all, and they have low levels of self-efficacy to provide smoking cessation. The results showed that the intervention helped the midwives increase their self-efficacy (p<0.001). Moreover, in the two-month period between the measurements, the midwives increased (p<0.001) their use of modern practices based on the 5A’s model. Finally, the midwives evaluated the program positively since all of them felt that the program had met their expectations and they were also satisfied by the guidelines.
Conclusions
The results of the study showed that a one day training and the provision of guidelines on smoking cessation can lead to increased knowledge, rejection of misconceptions and mobilization of the midwives in terms of using smoking cessation counseling. However, the need for continuous training is of utmost importance.
Keywords:
Smoking cessation, Intervention, Pregnant women, Midwives, Knowledge, Attitudes
