130 Awareness and Implementation of Tobacco Control Practices in Rural Louisiana Federally Qualified Health Centers

Abstract

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Tobacco use remains a significant problem in rural America. Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) can help reduce the burden of tobacco use in rural areas. Still, we know little about center awareness and implementation of best practices for tobacco control. We assessed the knowledge and existence of tobacco control strategies in rural FQHCs. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We electronically surveyed health administrators and providers (n=33) in three rural Louisiana FQHCs between March and April 2021. The assessment measured awareness of the U.S. Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline for Treating Tobacco Use, center priority given to smoking cessation programming, the presence of best practices for tobacco control programming such as having a tobacco control champion and team, treatment and smoke-free campus policies, and referral to external cessation services. Descriptive statistics characterize survey respondents and responses. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The majority of the respondents were female (88.5%), White (53.8%), between 35 and 54 years of age (69.2%), and non-smokers (65.4%). Among all respondents, 69.7% reported awareness of the U.S. Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline for Treating Tobacco Use. Less than half (48%) said their health center gave smoking cessation high priority relative to other health priorities. Only a third (36%) reported having a tobacco champion, and a quarter (25%) had a tobacco control team at their facility. Although all centers had a smoke-free campus policy, a quarter (27%) were unaware of the policy. Only a quarter (27%) reported having a written policy for smoking cessation treatment at their center, and a little more than half (56.7%) knew about cessation services to which they could refer tobacco users. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Centers had limited knowledge of the U.S. guideline for tobacco use treatment. Smoking cessation lacked priority, and tobacco control best practices implementation was low. FQHCs serving rural populations can implement guideline-recommend policies and clinical treatments, and future studies should test strategies to increase implementation.