Undergraduate Nursing Students' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors towards Smoking | ||||
| Journal of High Institute of Public Health | ||||
| Article 7, Volume 39, Issue 2, April 2009, Page 334-353 PDF (195.49 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/jhiph.2009.20759 | ||||
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| Author | ||||
| Amal Samir Ahmed* | ||||
| Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing-Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Background: Nurses are expected not only to offer care for their patients, but also to model the advice they offer. Although nurses have an important role in health promotion and are well placed to see the harmful effects of tobacco smoking, Studies suggested that they smoke at much the same rate as other people of similar age and socio-economic status. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess undergraduate nursing students' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors towards smoking. As well as to determine undergraduate nursing students' level of nicotine dependence. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used in this study. All undergraduate nursing students at a private University in Jordan were surveyed in academic year 2005/ 2006 by using the Smoking & Health Promotion Questionnaire and Fagerstrom test for nicotine dependence (FTND). Results: The findings of this study showed that more than half of the students (54.7%) were smokers and all of the smoker students were male. The majority of them commenced their smoking habit while in secondary school. Students had greater generic than specialized knowledge about the harmful effects of smoking on health. Non-smokers were more supportive of non-smokers' rights than those who continued to smoke. No statistically significant correlation was found between level of knowledge and attitudes towards smoking. Friends were an important influence on the decision to commence smoking. Most smokers wanted to cease smoking, and many had tried unsuccessfully to stop on one or more occasions. They conceded that the effects of stress, peer pressure and the pleasure they obtained from smoking acted as barriers to stopping. More than one third (39%) of the smokers had a high level of nicotine dependence as indicated by the total FTND score. Conclusion: Results of this study may provide base line data to develop an anti-smoking program for nursing students. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Undergraduate Nursing Students; Knowledge; Attitudes; Behaviors; Smoking | ||||
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