Jane Chambers has received a Nursing and Midwifery Fellowship to investigate smokefree mental health facilities.
Jane Chambers, a clinical nurse with Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry, has received a Nursing and Midwifery Fellowship to help her investigate the commitment and underlying attitude of clinical staff towards treating tobacco dependency in mental health patients.
Jane was awarded $4,000 towards her Masters in Nursing at the University of Notre Dame, for her research topic: “Supporting tobacco intervention commitment of clinicians, transition to a smokefree inpatient mental health facility.”
The study addresses a difficult issue within many mental health facilities – to implement a non-smoking environment and treat tobacco dependence.
Jane said the study gave her a chance to tackle an important issue that was often neglected because of the busy nature of the mental health environment.
She said health services struggled to work within smokefree policy and integrate routine tobacco-dependency treatment. This inaction is despite smoking being a significant factor in reduced life expectancy and poor health for those with mental illness.
Common barriers to change include the attitudes of staff, a lack of education, and staff smoking rates.
The aims of the study are to:
- determine the underlying attitudes and commitment of clinical staff towards tobacco treatment for patients
- identify other emerging barriers to clinicians around this issue in the mental health care environment
- collect quantitative and qualitative data via two surveys – the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence, and the Tobacco Treatment Commitment Scale (TTCS).