Awareness about role of health literacy and self efficacy in tobacco cessation among primary health care workers: A quantitative questionnaire study.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to measure primary health care providers' understanding of the significance of health literacy and self-efficacy in cigarette quitting.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The current study used a quantitative descriptive questionnaire to collect data. The research was carried out among primary health care providers in a rural location near the Azamgarh Dental College in Uttar Pradesh. Medical officials, nursing personnel, and dental practitioners, if existent, are examples of primary health professionals. Azamgarh district is divided into 22 blocks. 22 primary health facilities were selected from these 22 blocks. 54 medical officers and 98 other primary health workers (ANMs, GNMs, and Asha workers) were questioned at these primary health facilities.

RESULTS: The majority of study participants {132 (86.84%)} were aware of the bad effects of tobacco consumption. Most of the study participants don't know about health literacy {115 (75.65%)} and self-efficacy {78 (51.32%)}. The majority of them did not know the questionnaire to test health literacy {114 (75.02%)} and self-efficacy {150 (98.68%)}. poor mean awareness score (20.77 ± 3.33) was significant (p = 0.001) in the age group 25-35 years. Anganwadi workers were having significantly (p = 0.002) highest poor awareness score (22.67 ± 2.34).

CONCLUSION: From the above results, it was concluded that awareness of the role of health literacy and self-efficacy in tobacco cessation among primary health workers was poor. Almost all study participants had not attended any training programs on tobacco cessation.