Tobacco use amongst nursing and physiotherapy students: a cross sectional questionnaire survey

doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2006.02.008

International Journal of Nursing Studies

Volume 44, Issue 5, July 2007, Pages 780-785

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2006.02.008 Get rights and content

Abstract

Aim

The aim of this research was to evaluate the prevalence, knowledge and attitudes of tobacco use in the students of the School of Health Sciences in the Campus of Ponferrada (University of León, Spain). Two-hundred and sixty-six (88.3% of respondents) students were assessed by a confidential questionnaire, which was distributed, completed by the students and collected in the same session.

Methods

This was a descriptive quantitative survey research design to examine the tobacco use among nursing and physiotherapy students.

Results

The global prevalence was 29.3%. In relation to academic courses we have observed statistical significance ( $p = 0.006$ ). Therefore students increased tobacco use while their training at the school. Seventy (89.7%) of students were smokers prior to commencing degree. Nursing students declared were unfamiliar with strategies and methods to help people to quit.The first academic course students (78.6%) significantly differed ( $p = 0.009$ ) from second and third course. We have found scores statistically significant ( $p = 0.04$ ) about the students opinion about health professionals social role function.

Conclusion

Tobacco consumption in university health students in the third year was higher than people aged 16–24 years old reported from the National Health Survey. The findings showed a great need to improve the curricular content in the area of tobacco including information, prevention, and treatment.

Section snippets

What is already known about the topic?

•
Tobacco use by nursing students equates to that of women in the general population.
•
Health students are tobacco users, in spite of their knowledge and status.
•
Tobacco use by health students reduces the likelihood of them seeing themselves as role models of a healthy lifestyle and reduces their effectiveness in tobacco control practice.

What this paper adds

•
Tobacco consumption by third year health care students in one Spanish university was higher than people aged 16–24 in the general population.
•
Students increased their tobacco use during their professional training.
•
Nursing students’ knowledge of strategies and methods to help people quit smoking was poor overall, indicating the need to improve curriculum content on prevention and treatment of tobacco use.

Background

Addiction to tobacco is considered a chronic addictive disease that can cause premature death to half of the people who smoke (Fiore et al., 2000). In 1998, tobacco-related illnesses worldwide resulted in about four million deaths (World Health Organization, 2000). In Spain the recent facts indicate that tobacco kills 56,000 people each year (Banegas et al., 2001). Since at this time about one-third of the world's adult population smokes and youth rates are increasing (World Health

Method

This was a descriptive quantitative survey research design to examine tobacco use in the nursing and physiotherapy students in the School of Health Sciences in the Campus of Ponferrada (University of León, Spain). In Spain the degree in Nursing and Physiotherapy lasts three years. A self-filling anonymous questionnaire was designed following the guidelines of the European Regional Office of the WHO At the time of data collection, the total population of nursing and physiotherapy students was

Description of participants

In the study 88.3% (265 of 300) students participated : 80.4% females and 19.6% males, mean age 21.6, SD 3.5. In relation to university degree 54.1% are respondents from nursing degree and 45.9% from physiotherapy degree. Classifying by academic course, degree of response in nursing by year is 49 (34%), 45 (31.2%) and 50 (34.7%), respectivey, and in physiotherapy, 49 (40.2%), 40 (32.8%) and 33 (27%). The 100% of students were Spanish and were originally from Spain.

Smoking history

More than half of the

Discussion

The percentage of respondents (88.3%) was similar compared with other studies developed in different countries, where the response rates varied from 80% to 95% (Harrison et al., 1991; Cordón Granados et al., 1992; Gorin, 2001; Carmichael and Cockcroft, 1997; Blakey and Seaton, 1992). The number of participants fluctuated from a minimum of 69 in Elkind (1988) to a maximum of 2104 in Harrison et al. (1991). The global prevalence of smoking in our students was 29.3%. Nursing and physiotherapy

Conclusion

Tobacco consumption in university health students in the third year was higher than people aged 16–24 years-old reported from the National Health Survey. There were no significant differences in prevalence of smoking among nursing and physiotherapy students. However, we found nursing students more concerned about the methods and strategies to help people to quit, in third year in particular.

The increase of tobacco use in nursing students was significant, thus in first year prevalence was 19%

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Citation Excerpt :
In addition, the design of the study The prevalence of tobacco use in this study of 24.2% is within the range of those given in other studies with nursing students (Biraghi and Tortorano, 2010; Fernández García et al., 2007). The change in prevalence after the intervention seems to show that it had a positive effect, although not significant, unlike the study by Rapp et al. (2006), who noted the opposite effect.
To examine the effectiveness of a tobacco control course on the improvement of knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about smoking among health sciences' students.
This was a quasi-experimental study of community intervention carried out during the years 2005–2008, at 2 university health science centres in northwest Spain. A total of 290 students on the intervention and 256 on the control campus took part in the study.
The intervention consisted of a course on the prevention and control of tobacco use offered only on the intervention campus. Data were collected before the intervention and 6 months afterwards.
After the course, significant differences between groups were observed in the improvement of knowledge, attitudes and perceived ability to act in tobacco control.
The introduction of training concerning smoking through active methodologies had a positive impact on the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about tobacco of students.
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The prevalence and distribution of smokers among nursing students varies according to the country and period of study.
Transversal descriptive study by self-answered questionnaire. Eight hundred and fifty four subjects (94.9%) were questioned in the period 2004–2006.
Twenty eight percent of the students declared themselves to be smokers. The habit began before the students started university. The tendency of prevalence by year of survey and by graduation year was downward. The students shown a low nicotine dependency according to Fagerström and little motivation to give up. The average age at the onset of consumption was 14.6 (1.8) years. From the logistical regression analysis, the model best explaining the prevalence of tobacco consumption included the variable of year surveyed and academic background, those coming from the baccalaureate showing a lesser prevalence and tendency to smoke.
Tobacco consumption among students of health sciences was less than in the general population of the same age but high given their future profession. The tendency to smoke is decreasing and most started smoking before joining the university. We recommend an intensification of actions directed at teenagers and the promotion of anti-tobacco campaigns in universities.
Sensitivity and specificity of a self-administered questionnaire of tobacco use; including the Fagerström test
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Preventing tobacco consumption and promoting cessation among health professionals are of great significance as their habits can influence their patients’ attitudes. Knowledge of the prevalence and characteristics of tobacco use in a specific population is important for the design of efficient strategies for preventing people from acquiring the habit and persuading them to stop. Self-administered questionnaires are a very common method for determining tobacco use, but assessment is needed of their validity for specific groups, such as occasional smokers or students of health sciences.
The aim of this study was to determine the sensitivity and specificity of a self-administered questionnaire for determining tobacco use among a population of young female students of health sciences. As a gold standard, we used a measure of the concentration of cotinine in saliva with different cut-off points. We also analysed the influence on sensitivity and specificity of the questionnaire of nicotine dependence and exposure to secondary smoke.
This is an internal validity study (sensitivity and specificity) of a self-administered questionnaire.
The study was carried out in the School of Health Sciences of the University of León, at its centres in León and Ponferrada.
Data were collected on 432 of a total of 480 women aged under 25 who were studying Health Sciences at the University of León in 2007.
The self-administered questionnaire included data concerning demography, education, tobacco habits and exposure to environmental smoke. Saliva cotinine concentration was determined with an EIA kit.
The questionnaire used showed high values of sensitivity and specificity (85.3% and 95.3%) and a very good correlation (Kappa = 81.0%) with cotinine values of 10 ng/ml or higher. Discrepancies in the test results for those who declared themselves to be smokers only occurred in women with a low nicotine dependency. Among those who did not declare themselves smokers, those exposed to second-hand smoke were 7 times more frequently classified erroneously as smokers than those who had not been exposed.
The self-administered questionnaire used showed a very good internal validity and a good correlation with cotinine levels of 10 ng/mg, and therefore seems to be a good instrument for measuring tobacco use in this population. The availability of information on passive smoking and nicotine dependence is essential for the correct interpretation of the discrepancies.
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View full text

Tobacco use amongst nursing and physiotherapy students: a cross sectional questionnaire survey

Abstract

Aim

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Section snippets

What is already known about the topic?

What this paper adds

Background

Method

Description of participants

Smoking history

Discussion

Conclusion

International Journal of Nursing Studies

Gaceta Sanit

Nurse Education Today

Patient Education and Counselling

Applied Nursing Research

International Journal of Nursing Studies

International Journal of Nursing Studies

Nurs Outlook

Mortalidad atribuible al tabaquismo en España en 1998

Medicinal Clinics (Barc)

Attitude amongst nursing tutors and their students

Health Bulletin

Survey of students nurses′ smoking habits in a London teaching hospital

Respiratory Medicine

Smoking characteristics of Manitoba nurses

The Canadian Nurse

A survey into the smoking habits of nursing students

Nursing Times 93