Smoking habits and quit intention of the Hungarian National Ambulance Service employees

Abstract

Currently, there are no available data on the smoking/nicotine use habits as well as quit intentions of ambulance and other support employees of the Hungarian National Ambulance Service (HNAS). In order to explore all these, we conducted a cross-sectional, web-based survey on a convenience sample of HNAS employees in May, 2022. Besides socio-demographic variables, we measured current (past 30 days) smoking/nicotine use patterns of respondents, their quit intentions, intention to use quit assistance, and intention to use quit aids. In the sample (n=381, males 74.8%), the prevalence of current smoking and/or nicotine product use was 40.1%, and was highest in the youngest (20–29 years old) age group (50.9%) as well as among ambulance nurses/technicians (49.7%), ambulance drivers (37.8%), and paramedical professionals (33.3%). Exclusive use of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs) were most common in the youngest age group. As for the nature of the ambulance work, exclusive e-cigarette use and HTP use were most common among ambulance drivers (8.1% and 13.5%, respectively), while 13.2% and 13.7% of ambulance nurses/technicians reported exclusive HDT use and dual/poly-use, respectively. Two-thirds of respondents intended to quit smoking/nicotine use and one-third of them within 1 year. 36.8% of dual/poly-users and 27.9% of exclusive HDT users would need assistance to quit. Up to one-tenth of current smokers/nicotine users intend to try quit aids, mostly smartphone applications and nicotine replacement therapy drugs. Our study detected unfavorable prevalence rates of smoking/nicotine product use but high quit intentions among outgoing ambulance workers. In order to meet the dynamic needs of prehospital care, regular monitoring of nicotine and tobacco use, and other lifestyle risk behaviors as well as planning and implementing targeted workplace health promotion programs would be needed.