Midwives’ attitudes to counselling women about their smoking behaviour during pregnancy and postpartum

to investigate the attitudes of midwives to counselling women about their smoking behaviour during pregnancy and postpartum. survey using postal questionnaires. the entire federal state of Mecklenburg-West-Pomerania in Germany. 189 midwives constituting 77% of all midwives working in that State. midwives reported that they assessed smoking behaviour regularly (77%), addressed the consequences of smoking (70%) and advised women to quit. Among the midwives, 81% saw low chances of success and parents’ expectations as the biggest barriers to counselling. Midwives reported that about 28% of women quit following their advice. smoking and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke are seen as prominent health threats that midwives reported they addressed routinely, including giving advice to stop smoking. midwives should be supported in learning effective intervention strategies to further strengthen their work. They are a target population to deliver brief smoking interventions.