Abstract

HERNANDEZ, Jenifer; GUEVARA, Claudia Lorena; GARCIA, Manuel Fernando  and  TASCON, Jorge Eduardo. Smoking habit in students of first semesters of the Faculty of Health: characteristics and perceptions. Universidad del Valle, 2003. Colomb. Med. [online]. 2006, vol.37, n.1, pp.31-38. ISSN 1657-9534.

Introduction: Taking in a count that health professionals influence in the knowledge and practices of the community and that they must be an example in the promotions of health behaviors, it’s important to identify the perceptions and practices related to smoking cigarettes in students, for developing campaigns against tobacco consumption in the university. Materials and methods: Through a convenience sample, 487 health students from the Universidad of Valle, Cali were inquired. The information was typed and analyzed in Epi-Info 2000. Results: 13% are active smokers, 11% are passive smokers and 4% have stopped smoking; 22% relates tobacco consumption with hypertension; 26% of the smokers increased the habit in the university; 65% smoked before 17 years old, 18% started smoking because of anguish, depression or nervousness; 52% consider that prevention campaigns must be reinforced. Discussion: The lack of massive health messages against tobacco consumption led an increase of smoking. The studies show that short massive campaigns have a low positive effect on adolescents. Although, when messages are directed to individuals in long manners the results are better. Conclusions: The tobacco smoking among health’s students is high and the knowledge of its effects is low. The amount of passive smokers is similar to active smokers. It’s mandatory to design studies that permit not only to describe the behavior of the habit, but also the intrinsic causes of it.

Keywords : Smoking; Tobacco; Consumption; Perceptions; Students.

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