Smoking Intervention Practices in Texas Healthcare Centers with Sexual and Gender Minority Patients

This study evaluated the use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) for smoking cessation in centers providing behavioral healthcare for patient populations that included some proportion of sexual and gender minorities (SGMs).

Healthcare providers from 75 healthcare centers across Texas serving SGMs with behavioral health needs participated in a survey assessing their center's tobacco control policies and practices.

Nearly half (N = 36) of participating centers had a comprehensive tobacco-free workplace policy, 30.67% employed ≥1 tobacco treatment specialist, 73.91% employed ≥1 prescriber, 80.82% mandated screening for patient tobacco use at intake, and 57.53% provided a template for tobacco use assessments. Overall, 70.67% of providers asked patients about smoking status, 69.33% advised patients to quit, 64.00% assessed patients' interest in quitting, 58.67% assisted patients with quit attempts, and 36.00% arranged follow-up. Providers' ability to tailor interventions for special populations like SGMs ranged from very low/0 to very high/10 (M = 4.63 ± 2.59).

There are opportunities to improve policy implementation, standardization and usage of evidence-based interventions, and intervention tailoring within settings providing care to SGM patients in Texas to better address their tobacco use inequities.