Concept generation of cognitive enhancement: healthcare professionals' approach towards the impact and utilization of cognitive enhancers in academic context

Abstract

Cognitive enhancers (CEs) encompass a wide range of drugs, including prescription medications for attention deficit disorders and pharmacological compounds for cognitive enhancement. It is well-documented that the students are the leading cohort of CEs users. Exploring how healthcare professionals perceive the use of CEs for academic accomplishments is significant to understand their encouragement of CE use. Hence, the purpose of the current study was to look at healthcare professionals' attitudes and perceived understanding about the usage of CEs in academic contexts. The study was a quantitative cross-sectional research design conducted in different healthcare and academic settings of Karachi. The respondents were approached either through social media platforms or the official email addresses of their working organizations. Data were collected through a web link of an online questionnaire that included four sections; inquiring about the respondents' demographics characteristics, their knowledge about CEs, their attitudes towards the use and impact of CEs, and their inclination to use a hypothetical prescription-only CE. The response rate of the study was 73.3%. The majority of the respondents negated to permit university students to using CEs for cognitive boost (n ¼ 360, 67.1%), to concentrate (n ¼ 406, 75.7%), to increase vigilance (n ¼ 394, 73.5%) or to mitigate the effects of other medicines (n ¼ 312, 58.2%). The pharmacists were more likely to refute that using CEs by the students is safe (pharmacists 10.8% vs. physicians 8.3%, p¼<0.001), beneficial (pharmacists 12.7% vs. physicians 5.3%, p¼<0.001), or necessary (pharmacists 17.6% vs. physicians 12.8%, p¼<0.001). The major reasons for not encouraging the use of CEs were fear of misuse (n ¼ 510, 95.1%), safety concerns (n ¼ 495, 92.3%), and their consideration for CE as unnecessary medical intervention (n ¼ 441, 82.2%). The findings indicated that overall, respondents have a clear consensus of not letting university students use CEs for cognitive improvement or any other purpose implying that cognitive enhancement is not yet a common or approved medical practice by the healthcare professionals in Pakistan.

Exploring the understanding, source of availability and level of access of cognitive enhancers among university students in the United Arab Emirates: A qualitative study

“…However, there has been no exact data or previous studies that reported the prevalence misuse of CEs in UAE, it only indicated that 86% of male and female students in Zayed University (UAE) showed a positive attitude towards coffee consumption as a CE (Ghali et al., 2016). Several studies show a concerning increase in the use CEs among adult students in an attempt to improve academic achievement (e.g., Monnet et al., 2021; Narayanan et al., 2021; Shakeel et al., 2021).…”

“…Research reported that the spread of CE use is increasing year-on-year in the US, which is an alarming indicator for society figures that should encourage them to stand firmly against it (Greely et al, 2008;Lucke et al, 2018). Moreover, some university students believe that using CEs gives them an opportunity to increase and improve the quality of their studies and academic achievement (Ragan et al, 2013;Volkow et al, 2008) andShakeel et al (2021) also added that CEs can make the purpose of study. The current qualitative study showed that the most common prescribed drugs used among students in (Part I) was 'Adderall' and for nonprescribed drugs it was caffeine supper strength pills, which is aligned with previous studies (Sharif et al, 2022).…”

“…Recent studies from various countries have reported an increase in the use of CE drugs without medical indication among university students to enhance academic performance, such as meeting assignment deadlines and preparing for examinations (Ragan et al., 2013; Volkow et al., 2008). For example, a study conducted in Pakistan found that college students increasingly use prescription stimulating medications such as methylphenidate, modafinil and amphetamine salt for cognitive improvement for the purpose of studying (Shakeel et al., 2021). In France, students who reported the use of CEs started taking them during their first year and were seeking out alertness and wakefulness for competitive exams (Fond et al., 2016).…”