Tabagismo em universitários de ciências da saúde: prevalência e conhecimento

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of smoking and the level of knowledge about smoking among undergraduate health sciences students. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. A self-administered structured questionnaire was completed in the classroom by senior undergraduate health sciences students in the cities of Cuiabá and Várzea Grande, Brazil. We evaluated students at one public university and two private universities. Five variables were studied: age, gender, type of course, smoking status, and knowledge about smoking. The knowledge variable was divided into five parts: smoking as a disease; smoking/nicotine as a cause of dependence; specific education on smoking; major obstacles to the success of smoking cessation; and forms of smoking treatment. Only the medical students responded to questions related to the last two items. Results: The prevalence of smoking ranged from 9.3% at the public university to 21.1% at one of the two private universities. Approximately 30% of the respondents were unable to identify nicotine as the cause of dependence, 20.8% did not consider smoking a disease, and 47.2% reported that they had never received any instruction on the topic of smoking. The medical students enrolled at the public university showed the highest level of knowledge regarding the various forms of smoking treatment. Conclusions: The prevalence of smoking among the university students in our sample was high. Their knowledge about smoking was insufficient, which suggests inadequacy of the curricula at these universities.Keywords: Smoking/epidemiology; Students; Questionnaires. ResumoObjetivo: Determinar a prevalência de tabagismo e o nível de conhecimento acerca do tabagismo entre estudantes universitários da área de saúde. Métodos: Estudo transversal. Um questionário estruturado e autoadministrado foi respondido em sala de aula por universitários do último ano dos cursos da saúde de Cuiabá e Várzea Grande (MT). Foram avaliados alunos de uma universidade pública e de duas universidades particulares. Cinco variáveis foram analisadas: idade, sexo, curso de graduação, status tabágico e noções sobre o tabagismo. A variável "conhecimento" foi dividida em cinco partes: tabagismo como doença; tabagismo e nicotina como causa de dependência; treinamento específico sobre tabagismo; fatores dificultadores da cessação tabágica; e formas de tratamento do tabagismo. Os últimos dois itens somente foram respondidos pelos alunos dos cursos de medicina. Resultados: A prevalência do tabagismo variou de 9,3% na universidade pública a 21,1% em uma das universidades particulares. Aproximadamente 30% dos entrevistados não souberam identificar a nicotina como causadora da dependência, 20,8% não consideravam o tabagismo como doença, e 47,2% responderam não terem recebido nenhum treinamento sobre o tabagismo. Os alunos de medicina da universidade pública mostraram maior conhecimento sobre as diversas formas de tratamento do tabagismo. Conclusões: A prevalência do tabagismo entre os universitários estudados foi alta. O conh...

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