Effectiveness of a training course on smoking cessation knowledge and behaviour for health profession students: the SISMA project

INTRODUCTION: University students are at risk of starting smoking or continuing and increasing the consumption of tobacco products. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of the training course, Sisma Project, about smoking in healthcare degree courses, in terms of knowledge, behaviour and to evaluate the course. METHODS: SISMA project was a pre- post study about an intervention delivered to healthcare profession students about smoking and smoking cessation. It had a before-after design and was an online optional course available on the eLearning platform Moodle 2. The course was structured in four lessons of sixty minutes, a debate among experts and a final test of evaluation. The McNemar test was used to measure the effectiveness of Sisma on smoking behaviour of students after the intervention. Students rated the course assigning a score from one to ten, and expressed free comments about point of strength and weakness of Sisma project. RESULTS: The participants were 365 students, 28.5% males and 71.5% females, most were nursing 194 (53.2%) and dental hygienists students 105 (28.8%). Current smokers were 161 (44.1%) before and 142 (38.9%) after the course, there was statistical significant difference in smoking status after attending the course (p < 0.001). Students evaluated the course giving a high score with a mean of 8.13 (SD: 1.1); the main points of strength were the content (33.2%), the structure (15.6%) and knowledge given by the course (12.6%). The main point of weakness were the online structure 62 (37%), problem related to length and time 17 (10%) and the final test 15 (9%). DISCUSSION: Given the central role health professionals play in patient care, students need to be aware and trained in tobacco cessation techniques. Our results indicate that smoking behaviour significantly changed after attending a university course for smoking cessation and students appreciated its contents and structure.