SMOKING CESSATION IN PREGNANCY - A SURVEY OF THE MEDICAL AND NURSING DIRECTORS OF PUBLIC ANTENATAL CLINICS IN AUSTRALIA

Smoking is a major cause of adverse pregnancy outcomes. However limite d data are available documenting the perceptions of care providers in this area. This mail survey undertaken in 1999-1993 aimed to assess th e smoking cessation practices of Australian public antenatal clinics. Questionnaires were returned by 140 (80%) of the 175 eligible hospital s, 83 (48%) medical directors and 108 (62%) nursing directors. Smoking advice was rated an essential activity at the first antenatal visit b y 69% of responding directors. Nonetheless, only 12% of clinics indica ted they offered relevant training and 4% reported written policies. R esults also indicate senior staff may have suboptimal levels of awaren ess of smoking risks. Clinics used a narrow array of strategies to pro mote cessation. Almost one-third of directors said they advised smoker s to cut down rather than stop smoking completely. There is a need for antenatal clinics to implement integrated strategies for the detectio n and treatment of pregnant smokers including staff training and modif ications to the clinics' environment. In addition, major health promot ion agencies need to develop effective smoking cessation programmes de signed specifically for use in antenatal clinics and to monitor their on-going implementation.