Motivating Nursing Students to Intervene with their Psychiatric Clients who Use Tobacco

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of a hybrid, online education program using Self-Determination Theory as a guiding framework, on the autonomous motivation and perceived competence of baccalaureate nursing students (BSN) to intervene with psychiatric clients who are tobacco dependent.

Methods: A one-group, pre-test/post-test study design was employed with a purposive sample of 120 junior BSN students enrolled in a three-credit hour psychiatric/mental health nursing course at a large university-affiliated school of nursing.

Results: The integration of the tobacco education program significantly improved the perceived competence and autonomous motivation of BSN students to deliver cessation interventions to their psychiatric clients who smoke.

Conclusion: Findings highlight the need for curricular change in undergraduate psychiatric/mental health nursing in order to increase the number of entry-level nurses proficient in tobacco cessation interventions.