Assessing motivation to smoking cessation in hospitalized patients

Abstract Aim To assess motivation to quit smoking in patients admitted to an acute care hospital, determine predictors of readiness to change, and identify a risk group that requires targeted motivational interviewing. Methods A cross-sectional descriptive study. A retrospective study was performed on the medical records of 248 patients aged >18 years with smoking habits admitted to the medical and surgery units of a district hospital between May 2014 and April 2015. The data collected included sociodemographic data, data on respiratory function, number of cigarettes smoked per day, motivation to quit smoking, patient-reported readiness to quit, history of respiratory diseases and previous admissions. Results The Richmond test revealed that 54% of patients (n = 134) were poorly motivated to quit smoking vs. 11.74% (n = 29) who reported to be highly motivated. The group of patients who reported to be willing to receive support (n = 77) was prevailingly composed of men ( p  = 0.009) admitted to a medical care unit ( p  = 0.026) – mainly the Unit of Cardiology (51%) – who smoked 11/29 cigarettes/day ( p  = 0.015). Dyspnoea at admission, a history of respiratory disease and previous admissions for respiratory problems were not predictors of readiness to quit. Conclusions This study identifies a risk group of patients with respiratory disease, low motivation to quit smoking and poor readiness to receive smoke cessation support, that should be the target of motivational approaches to behaviour change.