Teens and Tobacco the Journal

Teens and Tobacco

The Journal of Family Practice article "Current trends in tobacco prevention and cessation in Nebraska physicians' office" (Backer et al. 1997) explores many aspects of the problems that exist with teenagers using tobacco in the form of smoking cigarettes, as well as other forms of tobacco. Additionally, the authors of this journal article explore statistical data and discuss recommendations for helping to educate teenagers and others on the dangers of tobacco use. While this journal article focuses on the relationship that exists among teenagers, physicians, and tobacco use, the information is nonetheless quite relevant to a school situation. This article actually deals with the effectuality and ineffectuality of intervention methods used with teenagers, so the recommendations that can be drawn from this data actually have basis in facts rather than simply being proposals that may or may not prove to work in real-life situations. The data published in this article is important for every person who works with teenagers, whether that be in a school, clinical, or home setting, to be familiarized with.

The primary objective of this article is to reveal of the findings of a study that measured the use of anti-tobacco methods among physicians in Nebraska and how successful these methods actually are in causing teenagers to stop smoking. The physicians were selected from eleven community-based family practices, and observed in a number of ways including direct observation in person, reviewing charts and records, and also conducting interviews with both the physicians and the patients. Information was gathered on many aspects of tobacco prevention policies, including how often tobacco use prevention methods were used, how often these methods were successful in getting the teenager to stop using, the personal opinions and beliefs of the physicians regarding how these methods will work, and how capable each physician felt to counsel patients on tobacco prevention.

Most physicians found that insufficient tobacco-use prevention was being conducted in general and that more responsibility seemed to fall on the physician than would be ideal. Many of the physicians did not feel it was necessary to address all tobacco-related subjects, such as counseling patients on the dangers of smokeless tobacco products. Most physicians did in fact feel that they were quite qualified to counsel on tobacco use, though the skills they actually posses in that area were usually not very advanced. Most physicians additionally felt that their counseling would have little or no effect in the long run, and were overall pessimistic about tobacco use prevention in their practice. None of the physicians studied had developed any specific plan of attack or utilized any special programs to work with patients, and appeared to be somewhat unorganized and uninvolved with the process. Most materials, such as literature, that were utilized were provided by outside pharmaceutical companies, not an original creation by the physician or specifically for that practice. The different practices studied varied a lot in how often and how intensely they participated in anti-tobacco activities with patients.

The conclusions drawn by the authors of this article were that there are not enough tobacco control activities taking place among physicians. Those that are addressing tobacco with patients need to increase the intensity and frequency with which they do so. Those that are not addressing tobacco with patients need to begin to do so. Each practice should be individually evaluated to determine what changes need to be made to the tobacco use prevention policies and how to implement these changes most effectively. Physicians need to abandon the one-size-fits-all approach and actually individualize intervention methods for each patient and each specific situation. Simply handing out promotional literature on smoking will not be effective enough and a more complete approach must be planned.