Tobacco Screening Practices and Perceived Barriers to Offering Tobacco Cessation Services among Texas Health Care Centers Providing Behavioral Health Treatment

Ammar D. Siddiqi, Maggie Britton, Tzuan A. Chen, Brian J. Carter, Carol Wang, Isabel Martinez Leal, Anastasia Rogova, Bryce Kyburz, Teresa Williams, Mayuri Patel and Lorraine R. Reitzel ()
Additional contact information
Ammar D. Siddiqi: Department of Biosciences, Rice University, 6100 Main St., Houston, TX 77005, USA
Maggie Britton: Department of Psychological, Health & Learning Sciences, The University of Houston, 3657 Cullen Blvd Stephen Power Farish Hall, Houston, TX 77204, USA
Tzuan A. Chen: Department of Psychological, Health & Learning Sciences, The University of Houston, 3657 Cullen Blvd Stephen Power Farish Hall, Houston, TX 77204, USA
Brian J. Carter: Department of Psychological, Health & Learning Sciences, The University of Houston, 3657 Cullen Blvd Stephen Power Farish Hall, Houston, TX 77204, USA
Carol Wang: Department of Psychological, Health & Learning Sciences, The University of Houston, 3657 Cullen Blvd Stephen Power Farish Hall, Houston, TX 77204, USA
Isabel Martinez Leal: Department of Psychological, Health & Learning Sciences, The University of Houston, 3657 Cullen Blvd Stephen Power Farish Hall, Houston, TX 77204, USA
Anastasia Rogova: Department of Psychological, Health & Learning Sciences, The University of Houston, 3657 Cullen Blvd Stephen Power Farish Hall, Houston, TX 77204, USA
Bryce Kyburz: Integral Care, 1430 Collier St., Austin, TX 78704, USA
Teresa Williams: Integral Care, 1430 Collier St., Austin, TX 78704, USA
Mayuri Patel: Department of State Health Services, Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch, Austin, TX 78714, USA
Lorraine R. Reitzel: Department of Psychological, Health & Learning Sciences, The University of Houston, 3657 Cullen Blvd Stephen Power Farish Hall, Houston, TX 77204, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-15

Abstract: Tobacco use, and thus tobacco-related morbidity, is elevated amongst patients with behavioral health treatment needs. Consequently, it is important that centers providing health care to this group mandate providers’ use of tobacco screenings to inform the need for tobacco use disorder intervention. This study examined the prevalence of mandated tobacco screenings in 80 centers providing health care to Texans with behavioral health needs, examined key factors that could enhance screening conduct, and delineated providers’ perceived barriers to tobacco use intervention provision. The results indicated that 80% of surveyed centers mandated tobacco use screenings; those that did were significantly more likely than those that did not to have a hard stop for tobacco use status in health records and were marginally more likely to make training on tobacco screening available to providers. The most widespread barriers to tobacco use disorder care provision were relative perceived importance of competing diagnoses, lack of community resources to refer patients, perceived lack of time, lack of provider knowledge or confidence, and belief that patients do not comply with cessation treatment. Overall, the results suggest that there are opportunities for centers providing care to Texans with behavioral health needs to bolster their tobacco screening and intervention capacity to better address tobacco-related health disparities in this group. Health care centers can support their providers to intervene in tobacco use by mandating screenings, streamlining clinical workflows with hard stops in patient records, and educating providers about the importance of treating tobacco with brief evidence-based intervention strategies while providing accurate information about patients’ interest in quitting and providers’ potential impacts on a successful quit attempt.

Keywords: tobacco screening; screening practices; behavioral populations; health disparities; Texas; mental illness; substance abuse; cessation care; perceived barriers; facilitators (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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