The relationship of mindfulness and medical students’ smoking in North-West of Iran

Background: Smoking is an established risk factor for many diseases and a worldwide healthissue. Studies suggest that the initiation age of smoking has decreased to less than ۱۳ years oldchildren. It has been indicated that about ۸۰% of smokers in Iran have started smoking before theage of ۱۸ years. Multiple behavioral factors has been investigated according to this habit.Mindfulness training was proposed to be beneficial in smoking cessation programs. However it iscontroversial if the mindfulness level can be a risk factor for smoking initiation. We aimed toassess the medical students’ smoking status with their mindfulness score.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among the medical students of Tabriz Universityof Medical Sciences. In order to collect data Freiburg Mindfulness Questionnaire was used with ۱۴items and four-option answers. The total score of this scale was calculated by summing up theitems’ scores which was ranged from ۱۴ to ۵۶. This scale was analyzed in wo groups of studentswho were current smokers and non-smokers. We investigated only the male students in this studyas the smoking is more prevalent in Males than women. Other exclusion criteria were ex-smokersand subjects who were reluctant to participate. A total of ۲۵ students were included in each group.The SPSS software was used to analyze the data with T-test. P-value of lower than ۰.۰۵ wasconsidered significant.Results: The mean age of the students was ۲۲ (۲.۹ ) years old. In total the score of the mindfulnessquestionnaire among all students was ۳۰ with standard deviation of ۲.۸۱. No significant differencewas found in the score of the mindfulness questionnaire between the smokers and non-smokers.However, the mean score of mindfulness was lower among smokers than non-smokers showingthe score of ۲۸.۵ (۴.۸) versus ۳۱.۴ (۳.۶).Conclusions: The mindfulness score was higher in non-smokers but the analysis did not reveal asignificant difference with smokers. The mindfulness status was indicated to be a potentialpredisposing or preventive factor for smoking. The total score of mindfulness was relatively low inall participated students that necessitate the proper interventions to empower the teenagers andyoung people for this skill. Our findings was limited because of a low sample size and we proposefor planning a larger research to check this association.

کلیدواژه ها:

Smoking ، Mindfulness ، Student ، Relationship