Tobacco Cessation Counseling Practices amongst Dental Hygienists in Central Texas

• Main Author: Murray, Lacy
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2021
• Subjects: dental hygienist; tobacco cessation; Five A’s model; Five R’s model; MPOWER six policies; nicotine addiction; perceived barriers to tobacco cessation; Dental Hygiene; Dental Public Health and Education; Public Health Education and Promotion
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3926; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5429&context=etd

Although tobacco cessation is an uphill battle for almost everyone who attempts to quit, it is important that dental hygienists do not assume that patients are not interested. Dental hygienists are in an ideal position to offer cessation help to their tobacco using patients. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the tobacco cessation practices among central Texas dental hygienists. Specifically, dental hygienists were asked about beliefs, motivation, and confidence with regard to their tobacco cessation practice. A positive significant, moderate, relationship was found between beliefs and confidence (r=0.647), beliefs and practices (r=0.704), knowledge and capability (r=0.579), motivation and capability (r=0.529), motivation and practice (r=0.605), and years of practice and capability (r=0.699). The mean confidence scores for hygienists with more than 20 years of experience differed from those with 1-5 years of experience (p=.003) and 6-10 years of experience (p=.025).