Motivational interviewing intervention with college student tobacco users: providers' beliefs and behaviors.

Objective: This study assessed college student health providers' use of Motivational Interviewing (MI) with tobacco users, as well as their beliefs about the use of brief interventions to help college student tobacco users quit. MI is recommended by the United States Public Health Service to increase tobacco users' willingness to quit.

Participants: Participants included 83 clinicians from health clinics at 7 different universities in North Carolina.

Methods: Paper-and-pencil baseline survey from a cluster randomized trial of college student health clinicians.

Results: Twenty-two percent of respondents reported always or usually using MI during the past month for tobacco-using patients not ready to make a quit attempt. Student health providers also reported information with regards to their beliefs about tobacco cessation treatment, barriers to intervening with patients, and confidence in motivating students to consider quitting.

Conclusions: Results highlight the need to encourage clinicians' use of motivationally focused interventions with student tobacco users. [Table: see text].