Özet:

This study was carried out to assess the behaviours and attitudes of medical students towards smoking and perceptions of their future role in this matter as doctors. For this purpose, a questionnaire was given to 215 medical students enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine of Süleyman Demirel University in Isparta, Turkey, during the 2000-2001 session. Of the students, 106 (49.3%) had never smoked and 17 (7.9%) were former smokers. Of the 92 (42.8%) students who had smoked for at least six months in their lifetime, 11 (12.0%) were ex-smokers. Of the current smokers, 61 (75.3%) were daily smokers and 20 (24.7%) were occasional smokers. The daily smoking rate was 20.5% in the first year students and 35.7% in the sixth year students. Of the current smokers, 63 (77.8%) considered stopping smoking and 45 (55.6%) had tried to stop smoking. The mean age for trying the first cigarette was 16.9 years and the major reason was stress. Of the current smokers, 75 (92.6%) considered smoking harmful to health, 66 (81.5%) worried that smoking was harmful to their health, but 10 (12.3%) did not worry about it. Concerning the diseases related to smoking, there was a positive relation between the knowledge level of the students and training year. Of all the students, 64 (29.8%) thought that their current knowledge was sufficient to persuade patients to stop smoking and 81 (37.7%) did not believe that it was necessary to increase the selling price of tobacco products to control the prevalence of smoking. These findings suggest that there is a greater need for education about smoking in the medical curriculum.

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