International Journal of Clinical Science and Medical Research

Purpose: Smoking cessation remains a critical public health challenge, requiring effective interventions led by trained healthcare providers. This study evaluates the impact of a structured smoking cessation training program on healthcare providers’ knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy in smoking cessation counselling.

Methods: A pre-post intervention study was conducted among 159 healthcare providers, including doctors, pharmacists, medical assistants, and nurses, who attended a structured smoking cessation training program at Klinik Kesihatan Buntong, Malaysia. The training comprised lectures, hands-on practical sessions, and role-playing exercises focused on evidence-based smoking cessation strategies. The Providers’ Smoking Cessation Training Evaluation (ProSCiTE) tool was used to assess participants’ knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy before and after training. Paired t-tests and McNemar’s tests were conducted to analyse the changes.

Results: Significant improvements were observed across all three measured domains. The mean knowledge score increased by 2.8 points (p < 0.001), attitude scores improved by 1.4 points (p < 0.001), and self-efficacy scores rose by 8.9 points (p < 0.001). Medical assistants demonstrated the highest knowledge improvement, while pharmacists exhibited the greatest increase in self-efficacy. Despite overall positive outcomes, attitude improvements among pharmacists and nurses were not statistically significant. Additionally, the training led to a significant rise in participants' interest in further skill enhancement in smoking cessation counselling (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: The structured training program significantly enhanced healthcare providers’ competencies in smoking cessation counselling, reinforcing the importance of targeted educational interventions. The findings underscore the need for profession-specific strategies to address attitude-related barriers and sustain long-term impact. Future training initiatives should incorporate digital tools, reinforcement training, and continuous professional development to optimize smoking cessation efforts and improve public health outcomes in Malaysia.

Malaysia, ProSCiTE, smoking cessation, WHO FTFC, MPOWER

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