Abstract:

Aims: Despite the legal regulations, there is an increase in the consumption of cigarette and other tobacco products. Therefore, we aimed to examine the use and addiction rates of tobacco products, especially cigarettes, among the students of the Vocational School of Health, who will be members of the health professionals in the future. Methods: The study was planned as a cross-sectional study with a face-to-face survey. From a total of 913 health technician students from 9 programs in the University of Health Sciences, Vocational School of Health Services, 277 students were selected by simple randomization. The personal and sociodemographic characteristics of the students, the status of using cigarette and other tobacco products, the frequency and the degree of dependence were measured. Dependence level was measured by the Fagerstrom Nicotine Dependence Test. Results: 84.5% of the students were between the ages of 18-20, and 74% were female students. The average smoking rate of the students was 22.7% (female: 16.5%, male: 40.2%). The rate of using the water pipe was 25.7% (female: 17.5%, male: 58.1%) between non-smoking students. Most of the students who started smoking stated that they started smoking with the influence of their friends (76.1%), and 52.4% of the students indicated that they did not think about quitting smoking. Conclusions: In our study, it was determined that amongst the young people who will become healthcare professionals in the future, the frequencies of cigarette and water-pipe use are high.

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