Barriers and facilitators to perioperative smoking cessation: A scoping review

Smoking cessation interventions are underutilized in the surgical setting. We aimed to systematically identify the barriers and facilitators to smoking cessation in the surgical setting.

Following the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) framework for scoping reviews, we searched 5 databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, CINAHL, and PsycINFO) for quantitative or qualitative studies published in English (since 2000) evaluating barriers and facilitators to perioperative smoking cessation interventions. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and mapped to the theoretical domains framework (TDF).

From 31 studies, we identified 23 unique barriers and 13 facilitators mapped to 11 of the 14 TDF domains. The barriers were within the domains of knowledge (e.g., inadequate knowledge of smoking cessation interventions) in 23 (74.2%) studies; environmental context and resources (e.g., lack of time to deliver smoking cessation interventions) in 19 (61.3%) studies; beliefs about capabilities (e.g., belief that patients are nervous about surgery/diagnosis) in 14 (45.2%) studies; and social/professional role and identity (e.g., surgeons do not believe it is their role to provide smoking cessation interventions) in 8 (25.8%) studies. Facilitators were mainly within the domains of environmental context and resources (e.g., provision of quit smoking advice as routine surgical care) in 15 (48.4%) studies, reinforcement (e.g., surgery itself as a motivator to kickstart quit attempts) in 8 (25.8%) studies, and skills (e.g., smoking cessation training and awareness of guidelines) in 5 (16.2%) studies.

The identified barriers and facilitators are actionable targets for future studies aimed at translating evidence informed smoking cessation interventions into practice in perioperative settings. More research is needed to evaluate how targeting these barriers and facilitators will impact smoking outcomes.