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Introduction: To determine if smoking cessation counseling practices and related psychosocial characteristics improved among pharmacists between 2005 and 2010. Methods: Data were collected in 2005 and 2010 from randomly selected pharmacists in Québec, Canada. Participants completed mailed self-report questionnaires on cessation counseling practices and psychosocial characteristics (i.e., belief that counseling is the role of pharmacists, self-efficacy, barriers, and knowledge of community resources). The association between each of year and training (either during or after undergraduate studies) and each outcome was investigated in each sex separately with multiple linear regression models using pooled data across 2005 and 2010. Results: Among female pharmacists, cessation counseling for patients ready to quit improved over time. Training during and after undergraduate studies was significantly associated with higher self-efficacy, better knowledge of community resources, and improved counseling for patients ready and not ready to quit. Also, training after studies was significantly associated with more advantageous beliefs about counseling. Among male pharmacists, knowledge of community resources and perceived barriers to counseling improved over time, but there were no significant differences in cessation counseling. Training during and after undergraduate studies was significantly associated with higher self-efficacy. Training during undergraduate studies was also associated with higher counseling score in patients ready to quit, and training after studies was associated with better knowledge of community resources. Conclusion: Smoking cessation counseling for patients ready to quit improved from 2005 to 2010 among female pharmacists but not among male pharmacists. Training is generally associated with improved counseling and improved cessation-related psychosocial characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Introduction: Recent studies evidenced that adolescent never-smokers exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) endorsed nicotine dependence symptoms. Other studies showed that SHS exposure measured with biomarkers among never-smokers independently predicted withdrawal sensations and prospective smoking initiation. The aim of the present study was to replicate and extend these findings by investigating whether social and pharmacological measures of SHS exposure predicted precursors to smoking among never-smoking adolescents. Methods: Participants included 327 never-smokers aged 11–15 years attending sixth or seventh grade in French language schools in Montréal, Canada. They completed self-report questionnaires measuring their smoking status, social smoke exposure (number of smokers in their environment and number of situations where SHS exposure occurs), and precursors to smoking initiation (smoking expectancies, perceived nicotine dependence, and smoking susceptibility). Each participant provided a saliva sample from which cotinine biomarkers were derived to measure pharmacological exposure to SHS. Results: When predictors were modeled individually, number of smokers predicted perceived nicotine dependence (p ≤ .05), smoking susceptibility (p ≤ .001), and expected benefits (p ≤ .05), whereas number of situations predicted smoking susceptibility (p ≤ .01). When predictors were modeled simultaneously, number of smokers predicted perceived nicotine dependence (p ≤ .01), smoking susceptibility (p ≤ .01), and expected benefits (p ≤ .05). Conclusions: Social smoke exposure was a predictor for smoking precursors. Pharmacological exposure to SHS did not predict smoking precursors, which may be partly attributable to the low cotinine values observed in our sample. Suggestions for improved pharmacological measurement of SHS and implications for public health are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]