Smoking Cessation and Attitudes, Belief, Observation, and Education of Medical Students, in Turkey

Tobacco use is an important public health problem around the world.Aim of this study is to assess attitudes,belief and observation of the students on smoking cessation and medical education.

This study is part of a multi-country study called "Global Health Profession Student Survey". The study population consisted of third year medical students in Turkey. The sample consisted of a total of 1834 medical students from randomly selected 12 medical schools.

Of the students, 1209 (92.1%)thought that health professionals should get specific training on cessation techniques, and that health professionals should serve as "role models" for their patients and the public. The percentage of the students who answered "Health professionals should routinely advise their patients who smoke to quit smoking" was 1211 (93.3%). Of the students, 1204 (60.8%) responded that health professionals who use other tobacco products were less likely to advise patients to stop smoking. The percentage of the students who had received a formal training on smoking cessation approaches was 48.2% (1196). Of the students, 91.5% (1203) had heard of nicotine replacement therapies in tobacco cessation programs. More than half of smokers tried to quit smoking last year, and majority of them did not take professional help or advice.

Majority of students are aware of health professionals' role on smoking cessation. Most of the students are willingness to take specific formal training on tobacco. Student's behaviours and attitudes were different by gender and smoking status.Improvement of tobacco cessation issues in medical curricula will be beneficial.