Doctors may put patients off with antismoking advice

Many patients are sceptical about the power of doctors' words to influence smoking, according to a qualitative study by Butler et al (p 1878). They are already aware of the negative effects of smoking, make their own evaluations about smoking, and feel that quitting is down to the individual. Repeated automatic advice to quit smoking can damage doctor-patient relationships and can result in patients changing their help seeking behaviour, sometimes in ways that could put their health at risk. Clinicians should consider how individuals view themselves as smokers and how they might react to a particular antismoking intervention.


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Relevant Article

Qualitative study of patients' perceptions of doctors' advice to quit smoking: implications for opportunistic health promotion
Christopher C Butler, Roisin Pill, and Nigel C H Stott
BMJ 1998 316: 1878-1881. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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