Smoking cessation support: Indian nursing students' practices, attitudes and perceived barriers.

Background: Tobacco use is a significant global health issue. Studies that examined nursing students' attitudes towards smoking cessation support were limited from India.

Objective: To assess undergraduate nursing students' practices, beliefs, attitudes and perceived barriers towards smoking cessation support.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive design was adopted among undergraduate nursing students (n=178) using self-reported questionnaires.

Results: Findings revealed that a majority (68.5%) of the students inquire about their clients' smoking habits and 78.1% of them advise patients who are smokers about the health effects of smoking. Although student nurses hold positive attitudes in the enthusiasm domain (28.8 ± 7.29), the majority of them lack self-efficacy towards smoking cessation support (14.2 ± 4.70). 'Patient's lack of motivation' (89.3%), 'lack of training/knowledge' (88.2%) and 'lack of communication skills' (77.5%) were the major barriers encountered by the participants during tobacco counselling.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that there is an urgent need to include a tobacco-control curriculum at undergraduate level to improve their competency in giving smoking cessation support.