Tobacco Control Activities of Primary-Care Physicians in the Community Intervention Trial for Smoking Cessation

Objective: To compare tobacco control practices of physicians and their staff in Intervention communities with those in Comparison communities of the Community Intervention Trial for Smoking Cessation (COMMIT). Design: COMMIT was a randomised trial testing community-based intervention for smoking cessation carried out over four years. Setting: Eleven matched pairs of communities assigned randomly to Intervention and Comparison conditions. Participants and interventions: Physicians in the Intervention communities participated in continuing medical education (CME). Training for office staff focused on tobacco control and office intervention "systems". Outcome measures: Smoking control attitudes and practices reported by primary-care physicians in the 22 communities, smoking policies, and practices of 30 randomly selected medical offices in each community, and patient reports of physician intervention activities. Results: Response rates to the physicians' mail survey were 45% and 42% in Intervention and Comparison communities, respectively. Telephone interviews of office staff had response rates of 84% in both conditions. Physicians in Intervention communities were more likely to attend training than those in Comparison communities (53% and 26%, respectively (P