Prevalence of Alcohol Use among Medical College Students in Hawler Medical University
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15218/zjms.2009.004Keywords:
Prevalence of Alcohol, Medical College Students, Hawler Medical UniversityAbstract
Background and objective: Moderate and Heavy/binge alcohol drinking among medical college students have become a major public health problem. There is consistent evidence suggesting that young adults in college are drinking more than their non–college-attending peers, but it is still not clear whether they are more likely to suffer from clinically significant alcohol use disorders. This article reports the first national assessment of patterns of drinking habit among Medical Colleges. The aim of this study was to monitor the use of alcohol and to search for intervention and prevention strategies in Medical college communities.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Young adults students (n = 342) in four Medical College in Hawler Medical University were studied from the period between 20th Feb 2007- 20th April 2007 regarding use of alcohol, they were between 17-29 years old, 36% female, 64% male. A semi structured Questionnaires were distributed to students living in the four Medical colleges. The questionnaires asked for information on age, residency (how long they had lived in the college) and what substances they had used in the 6 months prior to the study (cigarettes, alcohol). The students also asked about academic and social activities. The data were expressed as descriptive frequencies and percentages.
Results: 19.3% of college students (18, 4% of men, 0.9% of women) has occasional alcohol drink in the in the past 6 month, 4.4% has moderate to binge drinking which was completely among male students, students from College of Medicine form the higher rate of alcohol users (12.8%), while College of Nursing form the lowest rate (0.6%). Bars and restaurant form the major drinking context for the students (44.5%).
Conclusion: The problem of alcohol use is increasing among students from medical college / Hawler University. College-based interventions seem desirable, especially in boys.
Metrics
References
- Bachman, J.G,: Wadsworth, K.N,:O Malley, P.M., et al. Smoking, Drinking and Drug use in young Adulthood; The impacts of New Freedoms and Responsibilities. Mahwah, .(1997).NJ; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,
- Knight, J.R.; Wechsler, H.; Meichun, K.; et al. Alcohol abuse and dependence among U.S. college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 2002.63:263–270,
- Klein, H. College students` attitudes toward the use of alcoholic beverages. Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, 1992. 37, 35-52.
- O’Leary, T.A.; Brown, S.A.; Colby, S.M.; et al. Treating adolescents together or individually? Issues in adolescent substance abuse interventions. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 26:890–899, 2002.
- Presley, C.A.; Meilman, P.W.; and Leichliter, J.S. College factors that influence drinking. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 2002 (Suppl. 14):82–90.
- Reproductive, family and community health and population issues. In: The Work of WHO in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Annual report of Regional Director, January 01–December 31, 1998. Alexandria, WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, 2000:Chapter 4.1.
- Baer, J.S.; Kivlahan, D.R.; Blume, A.W.; et al. Brief intervention for heavy-drinking college students: 4-year follow-up and natural history. American Journal of Public Health. 2001. 91:1310–1316,
- Allen, J.P., and Wilson, V.B., eds. Assessing Alcohol Problems: A Guide for Clinicians and Researchers. 2003..2d ed. NIH Pub. No. 03–3745. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services,
- A.R Jodati,1 S.K Shakurie,1 M. Nazari1 and M.B.Raufie1. Students’ attitudes and practices towards drug and alcohol use at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Health Journal. 2007.Volume 13 No. 4 July - August,
- Gliksman L et al. Canadian campus survey 1998. Toronto, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 2000.
- Da Silveira, D. X., Rosa-Oliveira, L., Di Pietro, M., Niel, M., Doering-Silveira, E., & Jorge, M. R.. Evolutional pattern of drug use by medical students. Addictive Behaviors, (2008) 33(3), 490-495.
- www.mdconsult.com/das/news/body/itwj/0/202357/1.html?
- O’Malley, P.M., and Johnston, L.D. Epidemiology of alcohol and other drug use among American college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 2002 (Suppl. 14):23–39.
- WHITE, H.R., and HUSELID, R.F. Gender differences in alcohol use during adolescence. In: Wilsnack, R.W., and Wilsnack, S.C., eds. Gender and Alcohol: Individual and Social Perspectives. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Center on Alcohol Studies, 1997. pp. 176–198.
- Weschler H et al. Trends in college binge drinking during a period of increased prevention efforts. Findings from 4 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study Surveys: 1993–2001. Journal of American college health, 2002, 50:203–17.
- LEE, J.A.; JONES–WEBB, R.; SHORT, B.J.; and WAGENAAR, A.C. Drinking location and risk of alcohol–impaired driving among high school seniors. Addictive Behaviors, 1997. 22:387–393,
- Kerr-Corrêa F, Simão MO, Dalben I, Trinca LA, Cerqueira ATAR, Mendes AA, et-al.. Possíveis fatores de risco para o uso de álcool e drogas entre estudantes universitários e colegiais da UNESP. J Bras Dep Quím 2002; 3(1):32-41.
- DeSimone II, E. M. and Baldwin, J. N. , 2006-07-05 "Alcohol and Other Drug Use Attitudes and Behaviors In Nebraska Health Professions Students"2008-10-09 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p115705_index.htm
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: Results from the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings. Office of Applied Studies, Rockville, MD; 2007. NHSDA Series H-32; DHHS Publication No. SMA 07-4293
- Hughes PH, Brandenburg N, Baldwin DC, et al. Prevalence of substance use among US physicians. JAMA 1992;267:2333–9.
- Charlotte A. Kenreigh, PharmD, and Linda Timm Wagner, Pharm D: Substance Use by Pharmacy and Nursing Practitioners and Students in a Northeastern State; American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, May 1, 2004 (Volume 61, Number 9)
- Gray, J. D., Bhopal, R. S. and White, M. Developing a medical school alcohol policy. Medical Education: 1998. 32, 138–142.
- Royal College of Physicians Alcohol — Can the NHS Afford It? Royal College of Physicians of London,2001 London.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2009 Sirwan Kamil Ali, Jwan Mohammed Sabir (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The copyright on any article published in Zanco J Med Sci is retained by the author(s) in agreement with the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
