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This study is an investigation of the perspectives of college students who served as tutors for struggling first-grade readers. Two research questions drove the study: What did the tutors perceive as strengths and weaknesses of the tutoring program? and What possible solutions did they have for addressing any concerns? Quantitative and qualitative data, collected through questionnaires and interviews, suggest that the tutors felt personal satisfaction following their tutoring experiences. The tutors voiced positive comments and expressed concerns in four primary areas: training, supervision, feedback, and setting. Implications are discussed and suggestions are made to address the issues raised. (Contains 2 figures and 2 tables.)

Introduction: We report on physicians&apos; beliefs, confidence and clinical practice relative to the provision of smoking cessation interventions in northwestern (NW) Ontario, where tobacco use and tobacco-related disease prevalence are high and smoking cessation services are scarce. Methods: Physicians working at the 12 rural hospitals in NW Ontario were eligible for inclusion in the study. Survey items included clinical practices based on the "5 A&apos;s" protocol for tobacco intervention, and beliefs about, confidence in, and barriers and facilitators to intervention. Results: Physicians from 8 of the 12 hospitals responded. Almost all (> 91%) reported positive beliefs about providing smoking cessation interventions and were confident intervening. Relative to the 5 A&apos;s protocol for tobacco intervention, 100% of respondents ask, advise, assess and assist patients to quit smoking, and 89% arrange follow-up. The most frequent methods of assistance included pharmacotherapy, suggestions of specific actions to make it easier to quit and recommendations for alternatives to tobacco use. The most frequent barrier to intervenion was lack of time. Discussion: Based on respondents&apos; positive beliefs, confidence and current clinical practice relative to tobacco interventions, physicians in NW Ontario seem well positioned to play a key role in helping to reduce the high rates of tobacco use and tobacco-related diseases by providing smoking cessation interventions to patients who have been admitted to hospital. Introduction : Notre rapport fait le point sur l&apos;opinion, la confiance et la pratique des medecins en ce qui a trait a l&apos;application de mesures antitabac dans le Nord-Ouest de l&apos;Ontario, region ou la prevalence du tabagisme et des maladies liees au tabac est elevee et ou les services d&apos;aide a l&apos;abandon du tabac sont peu nombreux. Methodes : Les medecins de 12 hopitaux ruraux du Nord-Ouest de l&apos;Ontario pouvaient participer a l&apos;etude. Le questionnaire portait sur les pratiques cliniques inspirees du protocole <>, sur l&apos;opinion et la confiance des repondants a l&apos;endroit des interventions et sur les facteurs susceptibles d&apos;empecher ou de faciliter leur mise en oeuvre. Resultats : Les medecins de 8 hopitaux sur 12 ont repondu. La plupart (> 91 %) ont declare croire au bien-fonde des interventions antitabagisme et ont affirme croire en leur efficacite. Vis-a-vis du protocole d&apos;intervention antitabac 5 A, 100 % des repondants ont dit l&apos;appliquer (c.-a-d., s&apos;informer aupres de leurs patients, les conseiller, evaluer leur motivation et les aider a cesser de fumer) et 89 % ont dit exercer une forme de suivi. Les methodes les plus frequemment utilisees etaient, entre autres, la pharmacotherapie, des suggestions de mesures specifiques a adopter pour faciliter l&apos;abandon du tabac et la recommandation de solutions de rechange a l&apos;usage du tabac. L&apos;obstacle aux interventions le plus souvent invoque etait le manque de temps. Discussion : Compte tenu de l&apos;opinion favorable des repondants vis-a-vis des interventions antitabac, de leur confiance a cet egard et des pratiques cliniques actuelles, les medecins du Nord-Ouest de l&apos;Ontario semblent en bonne position pour jouer un role cle dans la lutte au tabagisme et pour contribuer a reduire les taux eleves de tabagisme et de maladies liees au tabac en offrant des interventions antitabac a leurs patients hospitalises., INTRODUCTION We report on physicians' beliefs, confidence and clinical practice relative to the provision of smoking cessation interventions to in-patients in northwestern (NW) Ontario rural hospitals. Tobacco use is the [...]

This study extends the results of a large randomized clinical trial of a multicomponent in-hospital smoking cessation intervention for general hospitalized smokers by examining subgroups of patients who responded to the intervention. The results, obtained using signal detection analysis, produced 6 subgroups of patients with varying degrees of intervention responsiveness. The subgroup most responsive was marked by 100% confidence to quit smoking at baseline. Among patients with less than 100% confidence, confidence interacted with age, depressed mood scores, addiction scores, and alcohol intake to discriminate 5 additional subgroups. Discussion focuses on how this information can be used in clinical decision making to treat subpopulations of smokers and directs attention to possible areas of underlying biopsychosocial processes that may interact to affect successful long-term cessation.

Abstract Background This study was a pre-program evaluation of hospital-based nurses' tobacco intervention beliefs, confidence, training, practice, and perceived intervention barriers and facilitators. It was designed to identify relevant information prior to implementing tobacco cessation guidelines across a large northern rural region, home to 1 urban and 12 rural hospitals. Methods This cross-sectional survey was distributed by nurse managers to nurses in the 13 hospitals and returned by nurses (N = 269) via mail to the researchers. Results Nurses were somewhat confident providing cessation interventions, agreed they should educate patients about tobacco, and 94% perceived tobacco counselling as part of their role. Although only 11% had received cessation training, the majority reported intervening, even if seldom--91% asked about tobacco-use, 96% advised quitting, 89% assessed readiness to quit, 88% assisted with quitting, and 61% arranged post-discharge follow-up. Few performed any of these steps frequently, and among those who intervened, the majority spent < 10 minutes. The most frequently performed activities tended to take the least amount of time, while the more complex activities (e.g., teaching coping skills and pharmacotherapy education) were seldom performed. Patient-related factors (quitting benefits and motivation) encouraged nurses to intervene and work-related factors discouraged them (time and workloads). There were significant rural-urban differences--more rural nurses perceived intervening as part of their role, reported having more systems in place to support cessation, reported higher confidence for intervening, and more frequently assisted patients with quitting and arranged follow-up. Conclusions The findings showed nurses' willingness to engage in tobacco interventions. What the majority were doing maps onto the recommended minimum of 1-3 minutes but intervention frequency and follow-up were suboptimal. The rural-urban differences suggest a need for more research to explore the strengths of rural practice which could potentially inform approaches to smoking cessation in urban hospitals.