Knowledge, attitude and practice of tobacco smoking among health colleges' students at Najran University, Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional descriptive study

Objectives: To assess the prevalence of tobacco smoking among health colleges' students at Najran University, and to investigate the students' attitude, practice and knowledge towards smoking and its risks. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at Najran University during the month of March 2014. Subjects and Methods: A pre-tested validated questionnaire based on the Global Adult Tobacco Survey was answered by 433 students (226 males and 207 females). Results: The prevalence of current cigarettes smokers was 30.1% for males and 0.5% for females (P < 0.001). For males, the prevalence of shisha smoking, snuff and smokeless tobacco usage was 28.3%, 16.8% and 14.6%, respectively. Applied medical sciences college's students had the highest prevalence (72%) of smoking, compared to 4% only at the college of medicine. Females had a better knowledge than males regarding the hazardous effects of smoking on health (87.1% vs. 99.5%; P = 0.007) and as a risk factor of brain thrombosis (67.2% vs. 94.2%; P = 0.001), heart attack (78.3% vs. 95.7%; P = 0.005) and lung cancer (82.3% vs. 99.5%; P = 0.001). Male and female students believed smokeless tobacco and shisha smoking are less harmful (59.7% vs. 30%; P = 0.001 and 38.5% vs. 7.7%; P = 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: Our results highlight the importance of initiating on-campus managed tobacco dependence treatment clinics to provide professional help for students to quit smoking. The results of this study can be used as a basis for the development of tobacco education programmes at Najran University and elsewhere.