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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Joseph A. Dake, PhD, MPH¹, James H. Price, PhD, MPH², and Timothy R. Jordan, PhD, MEd². (1) Division of Health, Wayne State University, 262 Matthaei Bldg., Detroit, MI 48202, 313-577-0023, jdake@wayne.edu, (2) Department of Public Health, University of Toledo, 2801 W. Bancroft, Mailstop 119, Toledo, OH 43606

Background: Children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Pediatricians can reduce this risk through counseling their patients' parents who smoke. Methods: 153 (54% response rate) randomly selected Ohio pediatricians completed a mail survey regarding Stages of Change in asking parents about their smoking status, use of the 5 A's guidelines, perceived self-efficacy in using the 5 A's with parents, and their perceived value of providing smoking cessation counseling to parents. Results: The vast majority (80%) of pediatricians regularly asked their patients' parents about their smoking status. The majority reported “always” or “usually” implementing two of the five steps of the 5A's method: identifying/documenting cigarette smoking status (56%) and giving clear, strong, and personalized messages to parents urging them to quit smoking (60%). The majority (83%) were confident of being able to explain how a parent's smoking impacts the health of their child. The respondents perceive that using the 5 A's method would likely result in fewer parents smoking. However they were less confident they could adequately implement all of the steps of the 5 A's. Conclusions: Ohio pediatricians appear to use the 5 A's in a limited fashion, primarily asking parents about smoking status and giving a strong personalized message urging parents to quit smoking. The pediatricians were not confident in their ability to assist parents in quitting smoking. Pediatricians could become more successful tobacco interventionists through training to better prepare them to assist parents in quitting smoking.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• describe pediatricians’ use of the 5A’s with their patient’s parents who smoke,
• explain pediatricians’ confidence in using the 5A’s with their patient’s parents who smoke, and
• identify systematic changes that would improve the use of 5A’s in counseling the smoking parents of their pediatric patients.

Keywords: Pediatrics, Tobacco

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered