Smoking Frequency of Nursing Students and the Extent to Which They Are Affected by the Warning Labels on Cigarette Packs

Abstract

Background: Determining the smoking frequency of young people and their exposure to cigarette pack warnings is important in terms of developing new policies for smoking cessation. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the smoking frequency of nursing students, their nicotine dependence, the extent to which they were affected by textual/graphic warning labels on cigarette packs, and the factors affecting them. Methods: The research is cross-sectional type. According to the sample calculation formula in cases where the universe is known, the universe was accepted as 855, the sample was calculated with 95% confidence interval and 0.05 error, and the number of people to be sampled was found to be 195. A total of 240 people were selected for the study, considering that there may be data losses. The students to be sampled were determined by the stratified sampling method. The data were collected via the survey created by the researchers and the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND). Chi-squared test were used for statistical analysis. Results: The average age of the students was 20.95 ± 1.70. 22.5% of the participants smoked. 68.5% of students had a low addiction level, while 57.1% were affected by warnings on a cigarette packs. It was observed that the effect of textual warnings on the cigarette packs did not differ by gender. Graphics showing a person in intensive care and a dead person's foot in the morgue evoked higher levels of negative affect on women than on men. When the written warnings on the cigarette package and some variables are compared; It was found that there was a statistically significant difference between smoking status, presence of smokers in the family, level of smoking addiction and smoking status. No statistically significant difference was found when being affected by written warnings and gender were compared. Conclusion: In order to prevent early youth smoking initiation, preventive studies should be carried out on young people from childhood. Particularly male students should be observed more carefully. Nurses; should develop strategies that can be effective in smoking-related youth and conduct qualitative research on them. © 2022, Dokuz Eylul University. All rights reserved.