Psychostimulants by academics of the pharmacy course at the Federal University: instrument validation and consumption analysis

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze the consumption profile with the possible stimulants effects on the central nervous system (CNS) in academics of the Pharmacy course at the Universidade Federal do Amapá, through a validated questionnaire. Method: this pharmacoepidemiologic research has a cross-sectional and descriptive study. The procedure consisted of a three-domain questionnaire’s elaboration: 1. Sociodemographic; 2. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); and 3. Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) questionnaire, with a probability sampling of 166 students. The questionnaire/ sociodemographic domain was validated through specialists and the application was conducted in three different period steps for ten academics (protocol number 3.753.673). Result: The validation process resulted in predominantly poor/weak concordances, and 60,8% of the interviewed academics confirmed consuming psychostimulants, of these about 51% consumes two or more substances considered CNS stimulants. As shown, the proposed instrument was validated, despite the week’s concordance in the Kappa index. Conclusion: The collected data from the instrument showed that the CNS stimulants consumption affects more than 50% of the students and that these substances bring risk to life, being observed abstinence symptoms by its users.