Lacking willpower? A latent class analysis of healthcare providers' perceptions of smokers' responsibility for smoking

Physician Reluctance to Intervene in Addiction: A Systematic Review

Importance

The overdose epidemic continues in the US, with 107 941 overdose deaths in 2022 and countless lives affected by the addiction crisis. Although widespread efforts to train and support physicians to implement medications and other evidence-based substance use disorder interventions have been ongoing, adoption of these evidence-based practices (EBPs) by physicians remains low.

Objective

To describe physician-reported reasons for reluctance to address substance use and addiction in their clinical practices using screening, treatment, harm reduction, or recovery support interventions.

Data Sources

A literature search of PubMed, Embase, Scopus, medRxiv, and SSRN Medical Research Network was conducted and returned articles published from January 1, 1960, through October 5, 2021.

Study Selection

Publications that included physicians, discussed substance use interventions, and presented data on reasons for reluctance to intervene in addiction were included.

Data Extraction and Synthesis

Two reviewers (L.N., M.C., L.F., J.P., C.S., and S.W.) independently reviewed each publication; a third reviewer resolved discordant votes (M.C. and W.C.). This systematic review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines and the theoretical domains framework was used to systematically extract reluctance reasons.

Main Outcomes and Measures

The primary outcome was reasons for physician reluctance to address substance use disorder. The association of reasons for reluctance with practice setting and drug type was also measured. Reasons and other variables were determined according to predefined criteria.

Results

A total of 183 of 9308 returned studies reporting data collected from 66 732 physicians were included. Most studies reported survey data. Alcohol, nicotine, and opioids were the most often studied substances; screening and treatment were the most often studied interventions. The most common reluctance reasons were lack of institutional support (173 of 213 articles [81.2%]), knowledge (174 of 242 articles [71.9%]), skill (170 of 230 articles [73.9%]), and cognitive capacity (136 of 185 articles [73.5%]). Reimbursement concerns were also noted. Bivariate analysis revealed associations between these reasons and physician specialty, intervention type, and drug.

Conclusions and Relevance

In this systematic review of reasons for physician reluctance to intervene in addiction, the most common reasons were lack of institutional support, knowledge, skill, and cognitive capacity. Targeting these reasons with education and training, policy development, and program implementation may improve adoption by physicians of EBPs for substance use and addiction care. Future studies of physician-reported reasons for reluctance to adopt EBPs may be improved through use of a theoretical framework and improved adherence to and reporting of survey development best practices; development of a validated survey instrument may further improve study results.

Uncovering the Heterogeneity in Fitness App Use: A Latent Class Analysis of Chinese Users

This study examines fitness app use patterns and their correlates among Chinese users from the perspectives of uses and gratification theory and self-determination theory. Our sample comprised 632 users of WeRun, the fitness plugin of WeChat, the largest Chinese mobile social networking app; participants completed an online survey and provided self-tracked physical activity data, which were subjected to latent class analysis. Based on the four-class latent class model (which yielded the best model fit and the most interpretable results), 30.5%, 27.5%, 24.7%, and 17.3% of the users were categorized as light users, reward-oriented users, lifestyle-oriented users, and interaction-oriented users, respectively. Moreover, class membership was associated with gender, age, education, income, life satisfaction, autonomy, and platform-based motivations. There is a significant heterogeneity in fitness app use and exercise behaviors. Platform-based motivations and autonomy are important classification factors, as users are looking for specific kinds of gratification from their use of fitness apps. Demographics and individual characteristics are also explanatory factors for class membership. The study findings suggest that fitness app designers should segment users based on motivation and gratification.

Mentioning smoking cessation assistance during healthcare consultations matters: findings from Dutch survey research

Background

Smoking cessation assistance (SCA) can help smokers to successfully quit smoking. It is unclear to what extent hearing about SCA from a healthcare professional is associated with using SCA during a quit attempt.

Methods

We used pooled survey data from the 2016, 2018 and 2020 ‘Module Substance Use’ survey in the Netherlands (N = 5928). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to determine the association between having heard about SCA from one or more healthcare professionals in the last year and the use of SCA during the most recent quit attempt in the last year. We used two models: model 1 included any type of assistance; model 2 included assistance typically recommended by treatment guidelines (i.e. counselling and pharmacotherapy).

Results

Hearing about any type of SCA from a healthcare professional in the last year was significantly associated with using any type of SCA during the most recent quit attempt [odds ratio (OR) = 2.96; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.16–4.06; P < 0.001]. We found the strongest association between hearing about counselling and/or pharmacotherapy and using counselling and/or pharmacotherapy (OR = 5.40; 95% CI 4.11–11.60; P < 0.001). The odds of using SCA was not significantly higher for smokers who had heard about it from two or more healthcare professionals compared to one healthcare professional (OR = 1.38; 95% CI 0.79–2.42; P = 0.26).

Conclusions

Healthcare professionals can play a greater role in stimulating the use of SCA, especially counselling and pharmacotherapy, by mentioning it to smokers during consultations.

Optimizing Smoking Cessation Counseling in a University Hospital: Results and Pitfalls

Background

Healthcare professionals (HPs) can play a substantial role in smoking cessation counseling (SCC) but in practice often skip this task due to time constraints. This study evaluates the implementation of the rapid Ask-Advise-Connect (AAC) method in a University hospital setting.

Methods

This mixed methods pre-post interventional study was performed at the Cardiology department of a University hospital and consisted of (1) a quantitative assessment of patient smoking registration and HP connection rates to external SCC from the Electronic Medical Record, (2) semi-structured interviews with 10 HPs to assess their attitudes toward AAC, and (3) a blended intervention aimed to implement AAC. The blended intervention consisted of face-to-face and online AAC psychoeducation for HPs followed-up with motivational messages on their smart pagers over a period of 6 weeks.

Results

In total, 48,321 patient registrations and 67 HPs were included. Before AAC implementation, HPs assessed smoking status in 74.0% of patients and connected 9.3% of identified smokers with SCC. Post intervention, these percentages did not increase (73.2%, p = 0.20; and 10.9%, p = 0.18, respectively). Nonetheless, the vast majority (90%) of HPs feel it is important to discuss patient smoking, and view it as their duty to do so. Main barriers to AAC reported by HPs were forgetfulness and time pressure.

Conclusion

This study shows that this AAC intervention does not increase Asking after smoking status or Connection of patients to SCC in a University Hospital. However, HPs hold positive attitudes toward AAC. A better understanding of the mechanisms required for optimizing HPs practice behavior is needed.

"At least someone thinks I'm doing well": a real-world evaluation of the quit-smoking app StopCoach for lower socio-economic status smokers

BACKGROUND

Smoking is more prevalent and persistent among lower socio-economic status (SES) compared with higher-SES groups, and contributes greatly to SES-based health inequities. Few interventions exist that effectively help lower-SES smokers quit. This study evaluated "De StopCoach", a mobile phone delivered eHealth intervention targeted at lower-SES smokers based on the evidence-based StopAdvisor, in a real-world setting (five municipalities) in The Netherlands in 2019-2020.

METHOD

We conducted individual semi-structured interviews with project leaders, healthcare professionals, and participating smokers (N = 22), and examined log data from the app (N = 235). For practical reasons, SES of app users was not measured. Qualitative data were analysed using the Framework Approach, with the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) as theoretical models.

RESULTS

Qualitative data showed that factors from the Intervention and Setting domains were most important for the implementation. StopCoach seemed suitable for lower-SES smokers in terms of performance and effort expectancy, especially when integrated with regular smoking cessation counseling (SCC). Key barriers to implementation of the app were limited integration of the app in SCC programs in practice, difficulty experienced by project leaders and healthcare professionals to engage the local community, and barriers to SCC more generally (e.g., perceived resistance to quitting in patients) that prevented healthcare professionals from offering the app to smokers. Quantitative data showed that 48% of app users continued using the app after the preparation phase and pre-quit day, and that 33% of app users had attempted to quit. Both app adherence and quit attempts were more likely if smokers also received SCC from a professional coach. Posthoc analyses suggest that adherence is related to higher likelihood of a quit attempt among participants with and without a professional coach.

CONCLUSIONS

Smokers, healthcare professionals and project leaders indicated in the interviews that the StopCoach app would work best when combined with SCC. It also appears from app log that app adherence and quit attempts by app users can be facilitated by combining the app with face-to-face SCC. As such, blended care appears promising for helping individual smokers quit, as it combines the best of regular SCC and eHealth. Further research on blended care for lower-SES smokers is needed.