Health professionals’ questionnaire
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RECRUITMENT
An email containing a link to an online questionnaire on the Lime Survey platform was sent to each healthcare professional participating in the STOP RCT, months after recruitment started in their center. The questionnaire examined perceptions regarding four possible barriers or facilitating factors in the trial’s implementation:Patient eligibility: Health professionals were asked how often they met ‘eligible’ patients (i.e. persons who smoke, are willing to stop smoking, and have a low SEP). Practitioners’ routine practices were also examined, by asking if they generally brought up smoking and if they thought that smoking cessation for low SEP patients was a priority.Doctor-patient relationship: Health professionals were asked whether, compared to other patients, low SEP patients were generally different in terms of patient-physician trust, adherence to care, regular follow-up, difficulty in undertaking long consultations, adherence to treatment, follow-up, addressing the issue of smoking cessation, and participating in a research study.Study organization: participants’ views on difficulties (ranging from very simple to very complex) regarding the evaluation of eligibility criteria and the RCT’s integration into clinical practice were assessed. Difficulties related to time constraints were also assessed, by asking how much time the study added per week in terms of: 1/ paperwork, 2/ study presentation to patients, and 3/additional appointment time (ranging from less than ten minutes to more than two hours).Satisfaction: we also examined health practitioner’s perceptions of the research’s merits and whether participating in the study had benefits for them in terms of: 1/ more frequent discussions relative to smoking cessation, 2/ new knowledge about NRT and e-cigarettes, and 3/ changes in perceptions of smoking cessation among patients with socioeconomic disadvantages. They were also asked if giving out free smoking cessation tools made them feel like they were providing a better treatment than a prescription, or resulted in better patient compliance. Finally, a question was asked about possible treatment contamination among patients part of the intervention and control groups (the study being single blind).Most of the questions followed the Likert scale [We also collected data regarding health professionals’ sex, age, occupation (nurse specialized in smoking cessation, general practitioner, doctor specialized in smoking cessation, addictologist doctor, other) and smoking status. Occupations were classified into two categories: doctors and other health professionals (according to their profession). We also identified smoking cessation specialists (‘tobbacologist’ Yes/No).