The Relationship Between Access to Anti-Tobacco Information and Smoking Attitudes in Qom High School Students

Background & Aims: Tobacco smoking, including cigarettes and hookah, is one of the major and preventable public health problems that negatively affects the health of individuals and society. Various factors, including individual attitudes and the level of access to anti-tobacco information, influence cigarette and tobacco use. The present study aimed to identify adolescents' attitudes regarding tobacco and examine their relationship with the level of access to anti-tobacco information in Qom, Iran. Materials and Methods: A descriptive-cross-sectional study was conducted among high school students in Qom in ۲۰۱۹, using a multi-stage random sampling method and the Persian version of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS). Descriptive and inferential data analysis was performed using the SPSS (version ۲۰) software. The nonparametric Smirnov-Kolmogorov test was employed to assess the normality of the data, and the paired t-test was used to analyze the data. In addition, a significance level of less than ۰.۰۵ was considered. Results: In general, ۵۸.۴% of adolescents had correct knowledge regarding cigarettes, and ۶۹.۵۵% of them had correct attitudes about cigarette smoking. Independent t-test, in order to compare the mean attitude score with the status of access to anti-smoking messages in mass media and classrooms, indicated that there was no significant relationship between these two variables (p < ۰.۰۵). Conclusion: Despite the limitations, the results provide important information regarding knowledge and attitudes towards tobacco smoking among adolescents. Despite the relatively high awareness of the harmful effects of tobacco, it still seems necessary to investigate and identify other factors affecting cigarette smoking. Greater exposure to anti-smoking information may increase the likelihood of having better knowledge and more appropriate attitudes; however, such a conclusion was not reached in the present work.

کلیدواژه ها:

Adolescents ، Attitude ، Awareness ، Students ، Tobacco