Purpose: This study aims to identify smoking cessation counseling for pregnant women as perceived by midwives after participating in a motivational interviewing (MI) training program.
Methods: A questionnaire survey on “Perceptions of smoking cessation counseling” was conducted with midwives who participated in a MI training program after the completion of the program, and 15 responses were qualitatively and descriptively analyzed using a content analysis approach.
Results: The analysis yielded the following eight categories: ‘I want to help pregnant women who smoke to quit smoking,’ ‘Smoking is a problem that smokers solve by themselves,’ ‘Smoking cessation counseling is difficult,’ ‘I hope to maintain a good relationship with the pregnant women,’ ‘Pregnant women who smoke also feel difficulties to stop smoking,’ ‘I hope to support the self-determination of pregnant women,’ ‘I want to provide smoking cessation counseling,’ and ‘Providing correct knowledge and information is important.’
Discussion: The findings suggest that the midwives may have perceived the pregnant women who smoke negatively and at the same time with empathy, and these ambivalent perceptions may create conflicts in providing smoking cessation counseling, and that being aware of these conflicts can help overcome psychological barriers to smoking cessation counseling.
Conclusions: The midwives who participated in the MI training program became aware of conflicts between negative and empathetic feelings, and brought changes in their perceptions of pregnant women who smoke and smoking cessation counseling.

Objective: We examined the effectiveness of a tool for caseworkers to support smoking cessation by welfare recipients at social welfare offices.
Method: We distributed a smoking cessation support tool, consisting of a smoking cessation support manual and a pamphlet for welfare recipients, to caseworkers at welfare offices, and we asked them to use the tool for half a year. Questionnaires were conducted before and after use of the tool to compare recognition by the caseworkers and the status of smoking cessation support.
Results: Caseworkers’ recognition of the extent of medical help for smoking cessation treatment increased after the tool was distributed. However, their awareness of smoking status and the need to quit smoking decreased; moreover, the caseworkers’ sense of the burden imposed by their support of smoking cessation increased, and their confidence in smoking cessation support decreased.
Discussion: Although smoking cessation support tools may be useful for increasing welfare caseworkers’ knowledge of smoking cessation, it is difficult to link the tools alone to smoking cessation in welfare recipients, because their use can lead to a sense of burden and loss of self-confidence among the workers.
Conclusion: There is a need to consider a full system of support, not just tools, for smoking cessation among welfare recipients through collaboration between welfare workers and health and medical professionals.

Objective: We examined the effect of online psycho-educational classes for junior high school students on the recognition of smoking and dependence.
Method: Two psycho-educational classes on stress and dependence, including tobacco problems were given to first-year junior high school students. We collected the recognition of tobacco, Kano Test for Social Nicotine Dependence (KTSND), stress level, and dependence tendency, along with students’ evaluations and impressions of the classes as evaluation criteria to examine the effects of the classes.
Results: The students who took the classes significantly showed an increase in scores for the recognition of tobacco and a decrease in scores for the KTSND and dependent tendency after the classes compared to before the classes. For each of the KTSND items, there was a significant decrease in scores for items 4, 5, and 7, which indicate rationalization and justification for smoking.
Conclusion: The online classes improved the recognition of smoking and the level of dependence tendency. These results suggest that psycho-education on smoking prevention is useful for preventing future dependence.