Mental health professionals with a specialty in anxiety disorders: Knowledge, training, and perceived competence in smoking cessation practices Original Research Article

Knowledge and perceived competence regarding smoking cessation was examined among mental health professionals who specialize in the treatment of anxiety disorders (n = 75). Results indicated that therapists assess smoking behavior in less than 30% of clients, perceive themselves as “definitely unprepared” to deliver smoking cessation treatment, and only a minority (17%) have received formal training in empirically based smoking cessation practices during the past 3 years. When benchmarked against primary care physicians, anxiety specialists illustrated deficits in “basic” smoking-cessation counseling practices (e.g., assess for smoking behavior). Anxiety specialists who had received formal training in smoking cessation in the past 3 years reported significantly greater levels of perceived preparedness in helping an anxiety-disordered patient quit and delivered a greater degree of evidence-based smoking cessation treatment. Implications of these data for the role of smoking cessation counseling in mental health training programs for anxiety disorders are discussed.