Effect of a smoking cessation educational intervention on knowledge and confidence of pharmacy students versus community leaders

Background: Training programs of various intensities and durations have been implemented to assist healthcare providers and students in leading smokers in a quit attempt. While some training programs have been developed to help community leaders provide these services, the focus for community leaders has been to assist with recruitment efforts. Objective: The objective of this study was to compare knowledge and confidence of students and community members before and after a smoking cessation educational intervention. Methods: After approval from the institutional review board, pharmacy students and community members were recruited for two-hour educational interventions. Topics covered included smoking health risks, benefits of quitting, behavioral, cognitive, and stress-management techniques, smoking cessation medications, and how to start a formal class. Pre- and post-intervention survey instruments were given to all participants with comparisons made via Student’s or Paired T-tests, as appropriate. Results: Knowledge scores increased significantly (p<0.05) after the educational intervention for pharmacy students (n=30) and community members (n=8). Confidence scores increased significantly for pharmacy students (p<0.05), but not for community members. Pharmacy students had significantly greater knowledge score changes (53.7%, pre-intervention; 81.8%, post-intervention; p<0.05) versus community members (32.1%, pre-intervention; 50.1%, post-intervention; p<0.05). When comparing individual confidence questions, only scores evaluating the change in confidence for providing counseling were higher for students versus community members (2.13 vs. 1.8, respectively; p