The Knowledge and Attitude Regarding the Health Effect of Smoking among Secondary Level Students in Nepal

Authors

  • Ira Sharma Prince of Shonkla University Pattani
  • Sanjeeta Chalise Nepal Institute of Health Sciences College Purbanchal University,

Keywords:

Adolescents' Smoking, Health effects, Knowledge and Attitude, School children

Abstract

Adolescent smoking is a serious problem all over the world. This study, carried out among all adolescent, secondary level students of Nava Arunima Secondary School, Kathmandu, is a cross sectional and quantitative work.  Data were collected during January-February 2015 with the help of semi structured and pre-tested questionnaire. The self-administered interview was taken from the study participants. Finally, descriptive statistics, simple tabulations for univariate analyses and chi square tests for bivariate analyses were done.

                More than 59 % of the students had inadequate knowledge about the health effects of smoking.  More than 61% of the respondents had a view that peer group influenced the adolescents to begin smoking and almost 30% of them had already experienced smoking. They viewed that smoking could be controlled by either teachers (45%) or the guardians (43.2%).  Nearly 93% had understood smoking as an addictive behavior and 96% knew that it mostly caused lung cancer. They opined that making people aware about health effects of smoking on cigarette packets is a good policy (53%) and told smoking should be banned in public area (85%). Almost 59% had inadequate knowledge about the effects of smoking and statistical association was found between level of knowledge and use of mass media (p=0.006). However no association was found between level of knowledge with age (p=0.729) and gender (p=0.338).  The Likert scale measured the attitude that they strongly agreed for - smoking being a disgusting behavior (79%), restriction of smoking in public place (85%) and making non smokers as a friend and disagreed with the idea of relaxation due to smoking (73%) and smoking being a personal matter (58%).

                Since mass media has greater influence in increasing level of knowledge against smoking, the awareness programs through this medium would be the most effective to reduce smoking initiation among school going adolescents. 

 

References

W.H.O. (World health organization), “Adolescent healthâ€, 2014, URL- http://www.who.int/topics/adolescent_health/en/

U.N.I.C.E.F. (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund), “The state of the world’s childrenâ€, United Nations Children’s Fund, New York USA, 2011.

W.H.O (World health organization), “Tobaccoâ€, 2014, URL- http://www.who.int/topics/tobacco/en/

C.D.C. (Centre for disease control and prevention), “Health Effect of Cigarette Smokingâ€, Smoking And Tobacco Use, 2014, URL- http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/

W.H.O (World health organization), “Non communicable Diseaseâ€, Fact Sheet, 2013, URL- http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs355/en/

Ministry of Health and Population [Nepal]. “Tobacco Control Reference Bookâ€, Ministry of Health and Population, Kathmandu, 2011.

N.D.H.S. (Nepal Demographic Health Survey), “Nepal Demographic Health Survey Reportâ€, Gov. of Nepal, Kathmandu, 2011.

Haddad H. G., Malak M. Z., “Smoking Habits and Attitudes Towards Smoking among University Students in Jordanâ€, International Journal of Nursing Studies, vol. 39, no. 8, pp.793–802, 2002.

Mandil A., Saeed A. B., Ahmad S., Al-Dabbagh R., Alsaadi M., Khan M., “Smoking among University Students: A Gender Analysisâ€, Journal of Infection and Public Health, vol. 3, no. 4, pp.179–187, (2010), URL- http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187603411000081X

Brownson R. C., Thompson J. J., Wilkerson J. C., Davis J. R., Owens N W., Fisher E. B., “Demographic and Socioeconomic Differences in Beliefs about the Health Effects of Smokingâ€, American Journal of Public Health. vol. 82, no. 1, pp.99-103, 1992.

Aryal U. R, ,Petzold M., Krettek A., “Perceived Risks and Benefits of Cigarette Smoking among Nepalese Adolescents: A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Studyâ€. BMC Public Health, vol. 187, no. 13, pp.1-9, (2013).

Halpern-Felsher B. L., Biehl M., Kropp R. Y. Rubinstein M. L., “Perceived Risks and Benefits of Smoking: Differences among Adolescents with Different Smoking Experiences and Intentionsâ€, Preventive Medicine, vol. 39, no. 3, pp.559–567, 2004, URL- http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743504000945

Sashidhar A., Harish J., Keshavamurthy S. R., “Adolescent Smoking: A Study of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice in High School Childrenâ€, Pediatric oncall journal, vol. 8, no. 1, URL: http://www.pediatriconcall.com/Journal/Article/FullText.aspx/

Moore L., Roberts C., Tudor-Smith C., “School Smoking Policies and Smoking Prevalence among Adolescents: Multilevel Analysis of Cross-Sectional Data from Walesâ€, Tob Control, BMJ, vol. 10, pp.117-123, 2001, URL- http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/10/2/117.

Christakis N. A., Fowler J. H., “The Collective Dynamics of Smoking in a Large Social Networkâ€, The new England Journal of Medicine, vol. 358, pp.2249-2258, 2008, URL- http://www.nejm.org/.

Blackburn C., Spencer N., Bonas S., Coe C., Dolan A., Moy R., “Effect of Strategies to Reduce Exposure of Infants to Environmental Tobacco Smoke in the Home: Cross Sectional Surveyâ€, British Medical Journal, BMJ, pp.327:257, 2003, URL- http://www.bmj.com/content/327/7409/257.

Gnanakshi D., Singh S., Poudel S., “Knowledge and Attitude on Ill Effects of Smoking among Adults Residing in Lekhnath, Kaski, Nepalâ€, Indian Journal of Community Health, vol. 26, no. 3, pp.308-311, 2014, URL: http://www.iapsmupuk.org/journal/index.php/IJCH/article/view/702/pdf_73.

Waldron I., Patterns and causes of gender differences in smoking. Journal of Social Science and Medicine. EconPapers. 32(9): 989–1005, 1991, URL- http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277953691901578

Breslau N., Peterson E. L, “Smoking Cessation in Young Adults: Age at Initiation of Cigarette Smoking and Other Suspected Influencesâ€, American Journal of Public Health, vol. 86, no. 2, pp.214-220, 1996, URL- http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.86.2.214.

Siegel M., Biener L., “The Impact of an Antismoking Media Campaign on Progression to Established Smoking: Results of a Longitudinal Youth Studyâ€, American Journal of Public Health, vol. 90, no. 3, pp.380–386, 2000, URL- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1446163/

Flay B. R., “Mass Media and Smoking Cessation: A Critical Reviewâ€, American Journal of Public Health, vol. 77, no. 2, pp.153-160, 1987. URL- http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.77.2.153.

Downloads

Published

2018-04-25

How to Cite

Sharma, I., & Chalise, S. (2018). The Knowledge and Attitude Regarding the Health Effect of Smoking among Secondary Level Students in Nepal. Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Studies, 6(2). Retrieved from https://ajouronline.com/index.php/AJHSS/article/view/5257

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 2 (2018): April 2018

Section

Articles

License

  • Papers must be submitted on the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis) and are not currently under consideration by another journal published by any other publisher.
  • It is also the authors responsibility to ensure that the articles emanating from a particular source are submitted with the necessary approval.
  • The authors warrant that the paper is original and that he/she is the author of the paper, except for material that is clearly identified as to its original source, with permission notices from the copyright owners where required.
  • The authors ensure that all the references carefully and they are accurate in the text as well as in the list of references (and vice versa).
  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
  • The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.