2023 Volume 18 Issue 1 Pages 13-18
Objective: To investigate whether HPH activities for tobacco control in hospitals reduce the smoking rate or improve perception of tobacco smoking among employees.
Method: Among the hospitals that are members of the J-HPH network in Japan, a request was made to four hospitals as the intervention group and six hospitals as the control group, and all the employees at these participating hospitals in 2019-2020 (n = 2,069) were included. In the intervention group, an HPH program for smoking cessation was implemented from January 2020 to March 2021 for patients, communities, and employees. The primary outcome was the change in smoking rate before the start of the study (December 2019) and at the end (April 2021). The secondary outcome was the score change on Kano Test for Social Nicotine Dependence (KTSND).
Results: The smoking rate decreased slightly from 9.5% to 8.4% in the intervention group, and from 10.1% to 9.0% in the control group, but the difference was not significant. The KTSND score in the intervention group remained unchanged at 12 (median, interquartile range (IQR): 8-16), while the KTSND score in the control group increased significantly from 12 (median, IQR: 7-16) to 12(median, IQR: 8-16) (P = 0.001).
Conclusion: HPH programs for tobacco control did not change the smoking rate and perception of tobacco smoking among hospital employees.
