Delivery of Smoking Prevention and Cessation Services to Adolescents

Objectives To describe the delivery of smoking prevention and cessation screening and counseling practices to adolescents and to examine the effect of physician specialty, sex, practice characteristics, and familiarity with preventive care guidelines on the delivery of smoking cessation counseling services. Methods Cross-sectional self-reported survey of pediatricians and family physicians in 3 New York metropolitan statistical areas who had seen 1 or more adolescents for well care within the past 6 months. Results Of 564 eligible physicians, 371 (66%) responded. Physicians reported asking most adolescents about smoking (91%) but were less likely to ask about peer smoking use (41%) or smokeless tobacco use (32%). Similarly, they reported assessing motivation to quit for 81% of smokers, but less often helped set quit dates (34%) or scheduled follow-up visits (28%). Family physicians were more likely to provide more effective smoking cessation interactions than pediatricians (mean smoking counseling performance score, 61 vs 53; P P P P Conclusion Familiarity with smoking cessation guidelines and physician's specialty and practice style with adolescents are associated with better delivery of tobacco cessation counseling to adolescents.