Learning to assist smokers through encounters with standardized patients: An innovative training for physicians in an Eastern European country.

Objectives: A lack of physician training is a major obstacle for effective tobacco dependence treatment. This study assessed the feasibility of an active learning training program and its effects on smoking cessation counselling skills of medical residents in Armenia, an Eastern European country with high smoking prevalence.

Study Design: The study used a pre-post assessment of smoking cessation counselling activities and a course evaluation survey to assess the feasibility of the intervention in a different environment.