Knowledge, behaviours and attitudes of Maltese nursing students on smoking

Abstract

This aim of this descriptive survey is to study the smoking behaviour of a cohort of Maltese nursing students, their knowledge about its health consequences and their perceived and practised role in educating their patients about the subject. Quantitative data was collected through questionnaires administered to a stratified random sample of 100 subjects representative of all third year and fourth year nursing students at the Institute of Health Care of the University of Malta. The findings supported the well-documented smoking trends among qualified and student nurses world-wide. One third of the students were current smokers, 19 of them being daily smokers. Smoking behaviour was significantly related to the students' gender and course but not to their age, year of study or marital status. Smokers and non-smokers were apparently equally as knowledgeable about the harmful nature of tobacco smoking on an individual's health, but smokers were significantly less likely to be "very concerned" about the effects of smoking on their own health. The frequency of providing patients with information about smoking and with explicit advice to quit was not significantly related to the respondents' smoking status. Smokers and non smokers did not differ significantly in their perceived responsibility to advise people to stop smoking, but smokers were significantly less likely to believe that they should set an example by not smoking themselves. Smokers were generally less likely to agree with various legislative methods of reducing smoking, but both groups were outright in favour of restricting smoking in hospitals. The findings also indicate that most of the students would be willing to learn and utilise specialised skills to support patients who want to stop smoking.