Background and Objectives:
Regular patient-provider interactions for at least six months during tuberculosis (TB) treatment serve as an opportunity to continuously implement smoking cessation counselling with TB patients. However, healthcare providers’ poor capacity hampers the provision of smoking cessation counselling as a part of the standard TB care. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of a two-day tobacco dependence treatment training program for TB physicians from the perspective of TB patients’ experiences.

Methods:
A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted among adult TB patients within two months after completion of treatment. We collected baseline data from patients who completed the treatment before provider training and follow-up data from patients who completed the treatment at 6 months after provider training (a non-experimental pre-post design). The smoking cessation counselling received during the last TB treatment was assessed based on the 5As model. Student’s t-test and chi-squared test were performed.

Results:
Overall, 163 and 177 patients participated in baseline and follow-up surveys, respectively. At baseline and follow-up, the majority of smokers reported that the healthcare providers asked about their smoking status (Ask: 92.63% vs 94.85%; p=0.753) and advised to quit smoking (Advice: 90.43% vs 93.62%; p=0.334). At follow-up, a significantly higher proportion of smokers reported that TB physicians assessed their willingness to quit (Assess: 33.70% vs 64.13%; p<0.001) and provided smoking cessation assistance (Assist: 5.38% vs 40.00%; p<0.001). At follow-up, more patients reported about follow-up appointments by their physicians to discuss their quitting progress (Arrange: 6.32% vs 17.53%; p=0.051). TB patients’ self-reported quitting rates were not statistically significantly different (16.84% vs 14.43%; p=0.646).

Conclusions:
TB physicians’ enhanced capacity to provide smoking cessation counselling was shown to be effective in improving patients’ experiences. Continuous efforts are needed to enhance the effectiveness of smoking cessation services and eventually impact on the quitting rate.