The patient exit interview as an assessment of physician-delivered smokingintervention: A validation study

In evaluating the efficacy of physician-delivered counseling interventions for health behavior changes such as smoking cessation, a major challenge is determining the degree to which interventions are implemented by physician s. The Patient Exit Interview (PEI; J. Ockene et al., 1991) is a brief meas ure of a patient's perception of the content and quantity of smoking cessat ion intervention received from his or her physician. One hundred eight curr ent smokers seen in a primary care clinic completed a PEI following their p hysician visit. Participants were 45% male, 95% Caucasian, with a mean age of 42 years and an average of 22 years of smoking. The PEI correlated well with a criterion measure of an audiotape assessment of the physician-patien t interaction (r = .67, p < .001). When discrepancy occurred, in general it was due to patients' over-reporting of intervention as compared with the c riterion measure. Implications and limitations of these findings are discus sed.