Dental Students’ Awareness, Preparedness and Barriers towards Managing Tobacco-Using Patients—A Cross-Sectional Study

Dave Ching Yeung Liu, Tracy Chui Yi Ho, Duangporn Duangthip, Sherry Shiqian Gao, Edward Chin Man Lo and Chun Hung Chu
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Dave Ching Yeung Liu: Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Tracy Chui Yi Ho: Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Duangporn Duangthip: Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Sherry Shiqian Gao: Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Edward Chin Man Lo: Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Chun Hung Chu: Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 10, 1-11

Abstract: Aims : To evaluate Hong Kong dental students’ perceived awareness, preparedness and barriers towards managing tobacco-using patients. Methods : A validated questionnaire was administered to dental students who were in their clinical years (the third, fourth, fifth and sixth year of study) in 2017 at the University of Hong Kong. The questionnaire consisted of three sections: (1) awareness towards practicing tobacco cessation counselling (TCC), (2) preparedness in terms of confidence, knowledge and clinical practices when managing tobacco-using patients, and (3) perceived barriers to counselling. Results : All 206 invited students had participated this study. Most (93%) agreed that dentists should deliver TCC. However, only around a quarter (26%) of students were well-prepared to help patients in tobacco cessation. While 60% of students agreed nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) was helpful for patients to quit tobacco use, only 28% understood its mechanism of action, and merely 16% were knowledgeable enough to introduce NRT to their patients. Two-thirds (62%) of students felt they did not have sufficient skills at this stage of their training. Conclusions : Most Hong Kong dental students had good awareness that dental professionals had an important role to promote tobacco cessation in their patient pools. However, not many of them were well-prepared to manage tobacco-using patients. Common barriers were found to be patients’ apathy and students’ inadequate familiarity with NRT.

Keywords: smoking; public health; dental education; nicotine replacement therapy; tobacco cessation counselling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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