Promotion of non-smoking: The role of primary health care physicians

Cigarette smoking is universally acknowledged to be a health hazard. We are of the opinion that primary health care (PHC) physicians can potentially play a key role in the promotion of non-smoking campaigns. The aim of this study was to determine the role of male PHC physicians in the promotion of a non-smoking campaign among the citizens of Riyadh. About half of the male PHC physicians from Riyadh were selected at random, and were requested to fill an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. The content of the questionnaire was validated by three experts and the reliability was excellent, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.85. The result of the study showed that about 63% of the physicians had never smoked, 20% had stopped smoking, and 17% were still smoking an average of 18 +/- 10 cigarettes per day. About 30% of the physicians achieved satisfactory scores, while 7% were reported to play no role in counseling against smoking. During the anti-smoking activity, only 10% of physicians reported making use of religious reasons against smoking. Arab-speaking physicians were shown to be less active than non-Arabs in counseling (P < 0.0001), and on-the-job training was found to be associated with better counseling practices (P < 0.0221). Our conclusion is that the reported activity of physicians in the promotion of non-smoking was far from exemplary, and so was their own smoking profile. There is, therefore, an urgent need to put more emphasis on the promotion of non-smoking among both physicians and patients alike.