How to persuade more primary care professionals to adopt a valued smoking cessation referral aid: a cross-sectional study of facilitators and barriers

Background: To study the factors associated with the intention of primary care professionals (PCPs) to use or not use a referral aid (RA) for selecting an evidence-based smoking cessation intervention (EBSCI). Methods: Participants (n = 85) were recruited from June to September 2020 to complete an online questionnaire based on the I-Change Model to assess the factors associated with the adoption of RA. The differences between PCPs with (n = 37) and without (n = 48) the intention to adopt in terms of demographics, motivational factors, and post-motivational factors were subsequently assessed. Correlation and logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate the factors associated with the intention to adopt. Results: Both groups indicated that they highly appreciated the RA. However, PCPs without the intention to adopt expressed a more negative attitude towards the RA, experienced less social support, showed low self-efficacy, and encountered barriers such as lack of time and skills. The factors most strongly associated with the intention to adopt were advantages, disadvantages, self-efficacy, less barriers, working in a solo practice and age. Conclusions: The adoption of RA can be facilitated in two ways. The first one is by increasing the added value of the tool through a second round of co-creation focusing on the adoptability of the RA in practice. The second approach is by communicating the added value of referring to EBSCIS and thereby using the RA by implementing it in smoking cessation training for PCPs, which could also help to improve the attitude, social support, self-efficacy, and perceived skills in terms of RA usage among PCPs. Impact: This study is the first work in the Netherlands to investigate the willingness of PCPs to actively refer patients to other EBSCIs in addition to providing face-to-face counseling themselves. Trial registration: The study was registered at the Netherlands Trial Register (NL7020, https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/7020).