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According to a survey on the perception of tobacco by the French carried out by ACT-Alliance against tobacco for the month without tobacco, help in quitting smoking is becoming more and more accessible. However, the subject is still too little discussed in consultation.
If it does not allow “all” smokers to stop their practice, the Month without Tobacco is at least an opportunity to take stock of smoking in France. As such, ACT The Alliance Against Tobacco conducted a survey based on 5 surveys from the BVA Institute over the past 2 years. First observation? The perception of tobacco is changing in the French population.
A negative image of tobacco for most French people
Among the French, the image of tobacco is tarnished and is no longer a symbol of “cool” or independence that could last several years ago. 78% say they now have a negative image of tobacco. However, the report remains ambivalent (a French signature?).
Still 2/3 of the French (68%) believe that smoking is an individual freedom that must be respected. This belief is of course predominant among smokers and is explained above all by the fact that some people adhere to false representations constructed by the tobacco industry, which make the cigarette a symbol of conviviality.
Talking about tobacco to quit, a taboo that persists with your doctor
The interest also reveals an important point, which can be further improved. If since 2016, the right to prescribe nicotine substitutes has been extended to certain health professionals (nurses, midwives, dental surgeons, etc.) six years later, this has not made it possible to unblock certain brakes in consultations. .
Thus, only 14% of prescriptions for these cessation aid treatments were made by non-physicians. As for broaching the subject with one’s general practitioner, the question of smoking is not systematically discussed in consultation with smokers: tobacco consumption is never broached by more than 1/3 of health professionals (36%) and occasionally for half of them (49%) reveals the survey.
Similarly, only 57% of women find it easy to be accompanied for smoking cessation (compared to 66% of men) whereas it is they who are particularly concerned today.
“Each year in France, tobacco kills 20,000 women, twice as many as 20 years ago.” concludes the survey. Advice to health professionals: addressing the issue in consultation habits could help reduce this figure.