Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25886352›Full record

ArticleSubstance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy2015

Awareness and support for anti-tobacco policies among health professional students in Pakistan: findings from the Global Health Professional Students Survey, 2011.

Syeda Kanwal Aslam, Beenish Mehboob, Sidra Zaheer, Kashif Shafique

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.7field-weighted citation impact, top 22% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.

Syeda Kanwal AslamSchool of Public Health, Dow University of Health Sciences, OJHA Campus, SUPARCO road, Gulzar e Hijri, Karachi, Pakistan. syeda.kanwal@duhs.edu.pk.
Beenish MehboobSchool of Public Health, Dow University of Health Sciences, OJHA Campus, SUPARCO road, Gulzar e Hijri, Karachi, Pakistan. beenish.mehboob@duhs.edu.pk.
Sidra ZaheerSchool of Public Health, Dow University of Health Sciences, OJHA Campus, SUPARCO road, Gulzar e Hijri, Karachi, Pakistan. sidra.zaheer@duhs.edu.pk.
Kashif ShafiqueSchool of Public Health, Dow University of Health Sciences, OJHA Campus, SUPARCO road, Gulzar e Hijri, Karachi, Pakistan. kashif.shafique@glasgow.ac.uk.
Dow University of Health Sciences · PK

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundHealth professional (HP) students may have an important role in controlling future tobacco use of their patients, and public at large. It is important to understand their existing level of awareness and support for national anti-tobacco policies. We thus aim to explore Pakistani HP students' existing attitudes towards national anti-tobacco policy and examine factors associated with lack of awareness, and support amongst them.

methodsSecondary data analysis of the Global Health Professional Students Survey, Pakistan, 2011 was performed. Study population included 4,235 health professional students enrolled in third year of graduate level HP programs. The policy support metrics were developed using six questions from the survey. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to analyze association between HP students' awareness, and support for anti-tobacco policy (outcome variables), and various socio-demographic, attitudinal, and knowledge related factors. Descriptive statistics are reported as proportions, and results of logistic regression analysis were reported as odds ratios with 95% confidence interval.

resultsOverall, among HP students, 10.8% (n=391) were current smokers, and 26.7% (n=965) of them were cigarette experimenters. Almost half, (46.1%, n=1666) of the HP students did not have an awareness of the official policy banning tobacco use in their school buildings and clinics; and only one in ten (9.4%, n=338) of them did not support anti-tobacco policies. Students were less likely to be aware if they had second hand exposure at home/work (OR=0.73, 95% CI (0.57-0.92), p-value <0.01). Furthermore, students who were current smokers (OR=0.21, 95% CI (0.08-0.56), or cigarette experimenters (OR=0.42, 95% CI (0.26-0.70), p-value <0.01), were least likely to support anti-tobacco policies.

conclusionWe found that HP students lack awareness of anti-tobacco policies; and were less likely to support such efforts if they were current smokers. These findings may help in understanding existing perceptions of the future care givers in Pakistan. Future anti-tobacco efforts and HP training programs may target the smoking HPs to enhance their full support in this regard.

Indexed as

Attitude of Health PersonnelHealth Knowledge, Attitudes, PracticeHealth PolicyData CollectionFemaleHumansMalePakistanSmokingSmoking CessationStudents

Identifiers

PMID25886352
PMCPMC4357184
OpenAlexW2140766310

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.