Effect of brief smoking cessation online training on knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and organizational factors in European health professions students: A pre-post study.

INTRODUCTION

Health professionals play a critical role in tobacco prevention and cessation, but limited training during education often leaves their knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and organizational support insufficient. Our aim was to assess the effect of an online brief smoking cessation training program on knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and organizational factors among health professions students in Spain and the United Kingdom.

METHODS

A pre-post study was conducted among 756 undergraduate health professions students (652 from Spain and 104 from the UK) from four universities. Participants completed the validated Knowledge, Attitudes, Behaviors, and Organizational factors self-reported questionnaire for health professions Students (KABO_S) before and one month after the training. Generalized linear mixed models analyzed pre-post changes, adjusting for gender, age, and tobacco use.

RESULTS

Significant increases were observed in the overall KABO_S score from 4.82 (SD=1.34) to 6.69 (SD=1.26) at one month (p<0.01). All dimensions increased in both countries (all p<0.01), with the greatest gains in individual knowledge/skills and attitudes/beliefs (median improvements ranging from 38.5% to 69.1%). Organizational resources showed the lowest gains (median improvement of 5.7% to 15.2%). Linear mixed models confirmed a significant increase in overall KABO_S scores (Spain: β=1.78; 95% CI: 1.67-1.90; UK: β=2.44; 95% CI: 2.13-2.74) and in each individual dimension (all p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and organizational factors improved significantly among health professions students in both countries. These findings suggest that this online training program may represent a promising addition to health professions curricula in Europe.