![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.gif)
Learning Objective 1: Identify 3 stressors that nurses' associated with women who smoked during pregnancy.
Learning Objective 2: Describe 2 intervention that nurses perceived as effective for promoting cessation with pregnant women.
The study methods included three distinct phases. Focus groups with nurses were conducted to identify the salient issues and experiences around cessation interventions in prenatal clinics. The derived understandings were used to develop a 31-item Likert-scale survey specific to prenatal nursing and cessation interventions. Electronic data were accessed to examine the characteristics of women who smoked during pregnancy and the impact of nurse-provided cessation interventions throughout the duration of prenatal care.
Twenty-nine staff, primarily RNs, participated in 7 focus groups conducted over a 5-week period. Several themes repeated across discussions: awareness of vulnerable situations, nurses’ personal cessation strategies, effective and desired tools, and constraints related to clinic settings. Completed surveys were submitted by 83% of the nursing staff; pregnant smokers were portrayed as a vulnerable population, for whom established cessation strategies were rarely effective. Self-ratings of cessation counseling skills were related to perceived effectiveness of cessation training. Retrospective data supported nurses’ perceptions of pregnant smokers’ characteristics and cessation rates during pregnancy.
The findings suggest that, for some pregnant smokers, successful cessation requires expanded interventions. This study has motivated activities to strengthen nurse-physician collaboration and partnerships with community-based resources to promote cessation and smoke-free homes. A pilot program is underway, examining the impact of coordinated massages across prenatal, childbirth and pediatric settings.
See more of: Magnet Posters