Determinants of practice nurses' intention to implement a new smoking cessation intervention: the importance of attitude and innovation characteristics

Aims To identify determinants of practice nurses' intention to implement a new smoking cessation intervention and to investigate the independent value of attitude and Rogers' innovation characteristics. BackgroundWhile effective smoking cessation interventions exist, implementation is often suboptimal. No previous studies have disentangled the independent value of beliefs towards implementation and innovation characteristics in explaining implementation. DesignA cross-sectional descriptive study. MethodsIn 2010, 56 of 91 general practice nurses who participated in an intervention effectiveness trial completed an online questionnaire concerning demographics, patient population characteristics, attitude, innovation characteristics, self-efficacy, perceived social influence and intention to implement the intervention in the future. Recruitment success during the trial was defined as the number of patients participating. To detect differences between intending and non-intending practice nurses, independent sample t-tests and Chi-squared tests were conducted. Correlation coefficients were calculated to identify associations between potential determinants of intention. To identify significant determinants logistic hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. ResultsInnovation characteristics and attitude were both significantly associated with practice nurses' intention to implement. While recruitment success showed a significant positive association with intention, perceived patient support was only a significant determinant when including innovation characteristics or attitude. ConclusionTo increase new interventions' implementation rates, it is most important to convince health professionals of its beneficial characteristics, to generate a positive attitude towards the intervention, to aid practice nurses in recruiting smoking patients and to increase perceived patient support.