COMPLIANCE WITH PRIMARY PREVENTION IN PRIVATE-PRACTICE - CREATING A TOBACCO-FREE ENVIRONMENT

A sample of private orthodontic practices (n = 40) from a controlled t rial for clinician-initiated tobacco-use prevention was used to test t he effectiveness of preventive medicine representative (PMR) visits in seating and maintaining an anti-tobacco office environment, Clinical. staff of 20 offices, randomly assigned to the experimental group, wer e trained by a PMR on the use of anti-tobacco materials (no-smoking si gns, posters, and print materials). Twenty control-group offices did n ot receive any training or special treatment. Subsequently, experiment al-group offices were visited by a PMR once every three months and wer e telephoned six weeks after each visit over a 12-month period. During visits and phone calls, PMRs prompted offices to order anti-tobacco m aterials. Visits served to introduce offices to new materials and to e ncourage their continued use. Data from direct observations and self-r eport measures showed significant differences between experimental and control offices for display of anti-tobacco materials at 1.5 months a nd 12 months (P < .001). Results suggest that PMR visits may serve as an effective method of introducing and maintaining preventive medicine procedures in clinical environments.