Substance abuse counselors and tobacco knowledge: The more they smoke the less they know?

The purpose of this study is to investigate smoking and tobacco knowledge as well as use behaviors of substance abuse counselors. Data were collected using online surveys administered October 2010 - August 2011 to 1054 counselors from substance abuse treatment facilities randomly selected using the SAMHSA database. Results indicate there was not a significant difference in tobacco health knowledge between "ever smokers" and "never smokers". However, "current smokers" were less knowledgeable about tobacco than counselors who did not currently smoke (p = 0.046). The more days a month counselors smoked, the less they knew about tobacco (p = 0.041). Counselors who smoked 20-29 days or all 30 days during the past month had the lowest mean scores on the tobacco knowledge index (18.26 and 18.48 out of a possible 25, respectively). Interestingly, counselors who planned to quit smoking in the next 30 days had higher tobacco knowledge scores than counselors who planned to quit more than 30 days later. This information may indicate that counselors in the contemplation stage who plan to quit smoking in the next 30 days may seek out tobacco knowledge. These findings are important as we explore counselor-patient relationships in substance abuse treatment facilities, particularly counselor willingness to provide smoking cessation treatments to patients. The prevalence of smoking among individuals seeking treatment for co-occurring substance abuse is between 70 - 95%, and it is vital to understand the relationship between counselor tobacco knowledge and behavior and patient smoking behavior.