Exploring General Practitioners’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices towards E-Cigarette Use/Vaping in Children and Adolescents: A Pilot Cross-Sectional Study in Sydney

Rajiv Singh, Michael Burke, Susan Towns, Muhammad Aziz Rahman, Renee Bittoun, Smita Shah, Anthony Liu and Habib Bhurawala ()
Additional contact information
Rajiv Singh: Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada
Michael Burke: Department of General Practice at the University of Western Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2560, Australia
Susan Towns: Department of Adolescent Medicine Unit, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW 2145, Australia
Muhammad Aziz Rahman: Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University Australia, Berwick, VIC 3806, Australia
Renee Bittoun: Lifestyle Medicine, Nicotine Addiction Unit, Avondale University, Sydney, NSW 2265, Australia, Australia
Smita Shah: Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia
Anthony Liu: Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia
Habib Bhurawala: Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 9, 1-12

Abstract: (1) Background: The increasing use of e-cigarettes/vaping in children and adolescents has been recognised as a global health concern. We aim to explore the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of General Practitioners (GPs) in Sydney regarding the use of e-cigarettes in children and adolescents and identify the barriers to addressing this issue. (2) Methods: This pilot study was a cross-sectional study conducted using an electronic questionnaire with a Likert scale and free-text responses. (3) Results: Fifty-three GPs participated in the study (male = 24 and female = 29) with a mean age of 50 ± 5.5 years. There was strong agreement (mean 4.5) about respiratory adverse effects and addictive potential. However, there was less awareness of cardiac side effects and the occurrence of burns. There is a lack of conversation about e-cigarettes in GP practice and a deficit of confidence in GPs regarding managing e-cigarette use in children and adolescents. (4) Conclusions: Our pilot study has shown that GPs are somewhat knowledgeable about the potential adverse effects of the use of e-cigarettes in children and adolescents, though there is a lack of knowledge of the complete spectrum of adverse effects and more importantly, there is a paucity of a structured approach to discuss the use of e-cigarettes with children and adolescents, and there is a low level of confidence in addressing these issues. There is a need for educational interventions for GPs to increase awareness of the potential adverse effects of using e-cigarettes and build confidence in providing management to children and adolescents regarding the use of e-cigarettes.

Keywords: e-cigarette; vaping; general practitioners; children; adolescents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/9/1215/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/9/1215/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:9:p:1215-:d:1479347

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().