Knowledge, attitude and practices of health care professionals towards tobacco control in south India

Introduction: Smoking tobacco is one of the leading and preventable cause of death worldwide. Apart from the responsibility of the Governments and the non-governmental organizations, it is the duty of every health care professional to promote the awareness about the hazards of tobacco usage to their patients. Objectives: This study was aimed to assess the knowledge, Attitude and practice of tobacco control measures by the selected group of health care professionals. Material and methods: A self administered e-questionnaire(30questions) was send to 106 health care professionals which includes Physicians, Dentists and Physiotherapists to their personal email address. E-responses were collected during the study period which extended between September to November, 2015.Proportions of the responses were analysed. Results: About 89.6% of the healthcare professionals felt strongly that smoking was bad for health. 80.5% responded that they do not use any form of tobacco and 98.1% of the respondents accepted that it is the duty of a Health care professional to advise people against ill effects of tobacco usage. Also 94.2% of them suggested updated topics on tobacco control programmes to be inducted into the curriculum of their respective area of health care profession. Conclusion: Health care professionals were found to do their role in tobacco control measures, however they request more informations on tobacco control be added onto the curriculum which enables them to read and practice more on these hazards of tobacco use.