Navigating smoking cessation in healthcare: a pilot study of the SMOKE AKAT questionnaire among family medicine residents

In light of the European Commission's agenda to make the EU smoke-free by 2040, where healthcare professionals play an increasingly crucial role this study revealed significant knowledge gaps and misconceptions about smoking cessation among family medicine residents. Many lack formal training but express interest in further education. There is a need to enhance smoking cessation curricula in family medicine training programs, focusing on evidence-based cessation methods, pharmacotherapy options, and harm reduction approaches. Improving residents' knowledge and skills in this area could lead to more effective smoking cessation interventions in primary care settings. The SMOKE AKAT questionnaire addresses a critical gap in the current healthcare research landscape by providing an assessment tool to identify knowledge deficiencies, attitudinal barriers, and practice gaps among family medicine physicians in smoking cessation counseling and enables targeted educational interventions to correct specific deficiencies that might otherwise remain undetected in standard medical education assessments.