Effective tobacco control measures: agreement among medical students

Abstract

Objective:To determine the level of agreement with effective tobacco control measures recommended by the World Health Organization and to assess the attitudes toward, knowledge of, and beliefs regarding smoking among third-year medical students at University of São Paulo School of Medicine, located in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Methods:Between 2008 and 2012, all third-year medical students were invited to complete a self-administered questionnaire based on the Global Health Professionals Student Survey and its additional modules. Results:The study sample comprised 556 students. The level of agreement with the World Health Organization recommendations was high, except for the components “received smoking cessation training” and “raising taxes is effective to reduce the prevalence of smoking”. Most of the students reported that they agree with banning tobacco product sales to minors (95%), believe that physicians are role models to their patients (84%), and believe that they should advise their patients to quit cigarette smoking (96%) and using other tobacco products (94%). Regarding smoking cessation methods, most of the students were found to know more about nicotine replacement therapy than about non-nicotine therapies (93% vs. 53%). Only 37% of the respondents were aware of the importance of educational antismoking materials, and only 31% reported that they believe in the effectiveness of encouraging their patients, during medical visits. In our sample, the prevalence of current cigarette smoking was 5.23%; however, 43.82% of the respondents reported having experimented with water-pipe tobacco smoking. Conclusions:Our results revealed the need to emphasize to third-year medical students the importance of raising the prices of and taxes on tobacco products. We also need to make students aware of the dangers of experimenting with tobacco products other than cigarettes, particularly water-pipe tobacco smoking.

Medical students’ perceptions towards e-cigarettes: highlighting the gap in universities’ curricula

“…A certain sensitivity on tobacco control strategy is commonly traceable among health professional students: [21] in this aspect, it worth to be underlined that only two third of respondents considered EC an effective device for quitting smoking, and this number remained constant regarding the idea that EC would be a harm reduction method, to such an extent that 66.7% of the sample affirmed they would recommend it to patients. Nevertheless, interviewees' opinion on the concomitant use of ECs and tobacco with the aim to reduce the number of smoked cigarettes is discordant, likely because they might not have received yet the properly education on tobacco and smoking during their training.…”

The Smoking Status and Attitudes of Medical School Students in a University of Nicosia

“…For example, a study of 2008-2012 from Brazil, found the level of agreement of the students with the WHO recommendations as high. The prevalence of cigarette smoking was 5.2%, but 43.8% of the students reported experimenting water-pipe (11), whereas a study among medical students of Saudi Arabia reported a 13% smoking frequency among male students (12). According to an international review of 2007 on tobacco smoking among medical students, the prevalence ranged from 3% in the United States to 58% in Japan (13).…”