Tobacco use and associated factors among school students in Dubai, 2010: intervention study

Abstract

Tobacco smoking is an emerging problem among adolescents in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study aimed to measure the prevalence of current tobacco use and its associated factors among school students in Dubai Emirate and to determine the impact of an intervention programme on knowledge and attitudes towards tobacco use. A school-based intervention programme was carried out among 2457 students aged 10-20 years and data were collected with a self-administered questionnaire. Of the students, 14.6% were tobacco users, mostly cigarettes (11.2%) and waterpipes (2.2%). The most common self-reported reasons for smoking were for the experience (29.4%), for stress relief (22.5%) and because their peers smoked (21.9%). Stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that the predictors of tobacco use were: male, higher age, UAE national, higher school level, government school, low knowledge about tobacco and family history of smoking. There were significant improvements in knowledge and attitudes scores after the health education intervention programme. 1Primary Health Care, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Correspondence to H.A. Obaid: haobaid@dha.gov.ae). Parmi les élèves interrogés, 14,6 % étaient des consommateurs de tabac, principalement de cigarettes (11,2 %) ou de pipes à eau (2,2 %). Les raisons les plus fréquentes motivant la consommation de tabac étaient le fait d'expérimenter (29,4 %), l'atténuation du stress (22,5 %) et la consommation de tabac par les pairs (21,9 %). L'analyse de régression logistique par étapes a démontré que les facteurs prédictifs du tabagisme étaient les suivants : être de sexe masculin, être plus âgé, avoir la nationalité émirienne, avoir un niveau scolaire plus élevé, fréquenter une école publique, avoir de faibles connaissances sur le tabac et venir d'une famille de fumeurs. Des améliorations notables ont été constatées dans les scores sur les connaissances et les attitudes après la mise en oeuvre du programme d'interventions d'éducation pour la santé.

Factors related to smoking behavior of students in Traditional Pesantren Aceh Besar, Indonersian in 2018

“…The chi-squaredtest on this factor resulted in p-value of 0.000, referring to a significant relationship between knowledge about the social marketing mix and the smoking behavior of the students in the pesantren. The finding was in accord with those in the studies of Obaid et al (2015) and Naggar (2011); however, it differed from those in the studies of Yogae et al(2014) and Samira (2017) that non -smoking students had better knowledge of smoking and its dangers and conversely, confirmingthe studies in South Australia (Dollman, 2007) and in Turkey (Golbasi, 2011). Further, in relation to attitudes, this study pointed out that 84.7% of the students' attitudes were mostly negative.…”

A Cross Sectional Study on Knowledge, Beliefs and Psychosocial Predictors of Shisha Smoking among University Students in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

“…This scale had been widely used by various researchers (Ali, et al, 2010;Nicholson, 2015) to measure the knowledge and beliefs about smoking. Obaid et al, (2014) identified the Cronbach alpha value of 0.85.…”

Sociodemographic predictors of tobacco smoking among expatriate and national adolescents in the United Arab Emirates

“…Despite acknowledgement by the UAE Ministry of Health that tobacco use is a growing problem among adolescents (7), few studies have focused on this public health issue (8)(9)(10). In 2002, the UAE participated in the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) that focused on adolescents aged 13-15 years (11).…”