Introduction: The promotion of smoking cessation in hospital settings is uncommon. One of the main barriers to such promotion is lack of knowledge on how to proceed. The objective of this study is to assess changes in professionals' knowledge, attitudes and actions after having received training in brief intervention.
Participants and method: Self-perceived knowledge, actions and status in relation to smoking status were assessed in 66 healthcare professionals before and after training. Furthermore, we compared the actions carried out by these professionals with 170 inpatients before the professionals' training and with another 170 after the training (patient's report), to corroborate professionals' self-reported actions.
Results: Brief intervention training significantly increased professionals' knowledge of psychological skills (by 23.3%) and of pharmacological resources (by 27.1%). Nevertheless, changes were not observed in the extent to which professionals: ask (30.8% vs. 38.2%, before and after the training, respectively); register patients' smoking status (73.4% vs. 65.9%); assess willingness to quit (25% vs 12.5%); or advise patients to quit (21.9% vs. 20.8%), according to the information provided by patients, which is consistent with that provided by the professionals.
Conclusions: It is necessary to examine other barriers to the application of the knowledge gained.