Determinants and Predictors of Smoking Cessation Among Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Private Medical College.

Abstract

The present study aimed to assess the prevalence and predictors for smoking cessation among undergraduate and graduate students of medical college. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a private Medical College in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from February 2016 to April 2016. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 2 nd to 6 th year and graduate medical students who were smokers or had quitted smoking during medical college. Demographic, academic and smoking assessment data was collected. Additionally, the contribution of medical knowledge in quitting smoking was assessed. Results: The study included a total of 88 students (64 [72.7%] males; 73 [83.1%] aged below 25). Of these, 21.6% had quitted smoking during medical school, while the remainders continued smoking. Exsmokers' status was found to be associated with older age (p=0.002), superior academic level (p=0.026) and history of several quit attempts (p=0.047). The two groups were comparable in terms of duration, frequency, and amount of smoking. The number of students who reported to have acquired enough medical knowledge about smokingrelated pathologies was greater in current smokers (92.8%) than in exsmokers (78.9%); but without statistical significance. Conclusion:The present study showed that more than one-fifth medical students quit smoking during medical college, and the likelihood to quit increases with age and academic level of the student and quit attempts in the past. No direct correlation between quitting smoking and acquired medical knowledge was reported; however, there is a possible correlation between quitting smoking and aquiring basic theoretical knowledge in the first 4 years.

Smokers’ and Non-Smokers’ Attitudes towards Smoking Cessation in Saudi Arabia: A Systematic Review

“…A further article was added in April 2020, following an alert of a new publication, with an additional article identified and added from the reference list of the new publication (n = 15). The screening and eligibility process was captured in the PRISMA Flow Diagram (Figure 1) [25], with the identified articles provided in Table 1 [9,10,13,15,21,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. There was a noticeable gap in publications between 1996 [13] and 2014 [21], while 2016 was the most prolific [13,21,[28][29][30].…”

“…The screening and eligibility process was captured in the PRISMA Flow Diagram (Figure 1) [25], with the identified articles provided in Table 1 [9,10,13,15,21,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. There was a noticeable gap in publications between 1996 [13] and 2014 [21], while 2016 was the most prolific [13,21,[28][29][30]. Due to the heterogeneity of the findings in the included studies, a narrative synthesis without meta-analysis is presented.…”

Prevalence of Smoking and Beliefs and Attitude Toward Smoking Habit and Smoking Cessation Methods Among Pharmacy Students: A Cross-Sectional Study in Saudi Arabia

“…The questionnaire was designed using a previously published study with similar objectives (15,16). The questionnaire was divided into two sections.…”

“…There is a wealth of studies on smoking and smoking cessation published from Saudi Arabia (15)(16)(17). According to a recent study, young adults are less likely to use SC interventions compared to older adults (18,19) and approximately one out of ten people seek or obtain evidence-based treatments (18)(19)(20)(21).…”

“…Overall, the knowledge and beliefs about smoking and smoking cessation among pharmacy students is crucial. Despite the wealth of literature about smoking behaviors in colleges' students (15)(16)(17), there is a scarcity of research on the prevalence, beliefs, and attitude of pharmacy students toward SC methods. The present study aims to evaluate prevalence, beliefs, and attitude of pharmacy students toward smoking habit and SC methods.…”