Tobacco Use, Exposure to Second Hand Smoke and Cessation Training among Nursing Students: Thailand Global Health Professions Student Survey, 2006-2011

The purpose of this study was to describe the smoking status of nursing students, their exposure to secondhand smoke, and training on tobacco cessation advisement, as well as comparison with the Global Health Professions Student Survey in 2006 in Thailand. The school-based survey was carried out between September and October 2011, involving 1,845 third-year nursing students in Thailand. The results indicated that prevalence of tobacco use among nursing students was quite low (1.9% in 2006 and 1.7% in 2011) and did not change during 2006-2011. Reduction of prevalence of cigarette smoking (1.1% in 2006 to 0.5% in 2011) was noted between 2006 and 2011. However, the prevalence of other types of tobacco products increased from 1% in 2006 to 1.9% in 2011. The prevalence of exposure to secondhand smoke at home did not change between 2006 and 2011; however, improvement in secondhand smoke exposure in public places was observed (59.4% in 2006 to 50.7% in 2011). There was a significant increase in the proportion of nursing students that reported they received formal training in smoking cessation approaches in their school training (from 12% in 2006 to 29.7% in 2011). However, there was no significant increase in the percentage of nursing students who reported having learned that it is important to educate patients who want to quit. This warrants efforts to be continued and further strengthened by integrating smoking cessation training in nursing curricula.