Zeitschrift für Gesundheitskommunikation Offener Zugang

Abstrakt

Substance Use among Male and Female Healthcare Professional College Students-A Cross Sectional WHO Risk Screening

Syeda Faiza*, Farhan Majeed

Objective: To determine the frequency of substance use and dependence and figure out commonly used drugs among male and female healthcare professional college students.

Method: A cross sectional study was conducted in Lahore on healthcare professional college students between ages 17-26 years. After approval by parent institute’s ethical board, WHO questionnaire of ASSIST (Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test, and containing 8 items), a validated questionnaire was used to figure out prevalence of substance use among 250 young healthcare professional students.

Results: Prevalence of substance dependence among different departments of medical and allied health sciences was 26.8 % for ASSIST mentioned drugs among n=250 participants. The frequency of drugs in “others” category including caffeine was 49.2 %. Individuals who were at high risk of drug dependence were 18.32 %, including caffeine and other drugs. P value was 0.000. Gender association was strong (OR for male/female 0.441, 95 % CI 0.240-0.809). According to this study the odds of males consuming any type of drugs is 2.3 (2.27) times more as compared to females.

Conclusion: Substance dependence is an issue of concern among young healthcare professional students in colleges and universities of Lahore. Both genders seem to use substances that can lead to dependence. Efforts are required to raise awareness about disadvantages of substance dependence.