The development of a decisional balance measure of physician smoking cessation interventions

Background. Decreasing the prevalence of smoking is an important health car e goal, and there is evidence that physicians' advice to quit is an importa nt motivator for patients. However, fewer than half of smokers report that they have ever been advised to quit. This study was conducted to develop a decisional balance measure for physician delivery of smoking cessation inte rventions. Methods. This study included a convenience sample of 155 primary care physi cians. A decisional balance measure was developed using item generation and development, pilot testing, and principal components analyses. Validity wa s established by relating the deci-sional balance measure to a previously v alidated item of counseling behavior and to physician stage of readi-ness t o deliver smoking cessation counseling. Results. Based on principal components analyses and item analyses, the fina l measure consisted of 10 Pro and 10 Con items with coefficient a of 0.83 a nd 0.86. The Pros and Cons scales were significantly associated with self-r eported counseling to patients who smoke and to stage of readiness to deliv er smoking cessation counseling. Conclusions. A decisional balance measure of physician smoking cessation in terventions can be used to assist investigators in developing effective int erventions to enhance the delivery of smoking cessation interventions in pr imary care settings. (C) 2001 American Health Foundation and Academic Press .