Smoking cessation and the dental hygiene and dental therapy curriculum

Abstract

As part of a needs assessment exercise on behalf of the Health Education Authority (HEA), a telephone survey of senior tutors from dental hygiene schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was conducted. The aim was to examine the status of smoking cessation in dental hygiene and dental therapy curricula and to develop appropriate teaching resources in this area. Questions concerned how and if smoking cessation was taught; barriers and facilitators to teaching smoking cessation techniques and to using them in practice; beliefs regarding the effectiveness of smoking cessation advice and its perceived relevance to the role of dental professionals.Interviews were obtained with 11 of the 14 schools contacted (giving a response rate of 79%). While all tutors agreed on the importance of smoking cessation in the curriculum and in practice, there was a wide variation in the extent to which it was covered, dependent mostly on the availability of suitably qualified staff, resources and space in the timetable. Just under half of the schools interviewed said they did not normally cover smoking cessation directly in their curricula but some other schools offered extensive and continuous tuition in this area. All respondents were interested in obtaining additional practical resources (including further training) to aid smoking cessation teaching.The vast majority of tutors considered smoking cessation advice relevant to the role of dental hygienists and therapists but most felt its effectiveness was variable or difficult to assess. A number of barriers to both teaching and practising smoking cessation were raised.The results of the study have implications for the development of dental hygiene and therapy curricula and highlight the need for increased training and resource provision in the area of smoking cessation.