Smoking behaviour of student nurses enrolled in diploma, associate degree and undergraduate nursing programmes

Because the literature shows that cigarette smoking is a major causative factor in the occurrence of chronic illness, lung cancer is becoming more common in women than breast cancer, nurses smoke more than any other group of health care providers and studies have not examined differences of smoking among the associate degree, undergraduate and diploma levels of nursing, this study was designed to examine selected health behaviours and their relationship to cigarette use among Alabama senior student nurses, and to determine smoking prevalence by level of educational preparation. A sample of senior associate degree, undergraduate and diploma student nurses in Alabama responded to an 87-item questionnaire which was personally administered by the investigator in a classroom setting. Twenty-two of the 87 items were used to compile the demographics, prevalences and health behaviours reported here. The remaining items were used to develop a sequence of information required to test Ajzen and Fishbein's Theory of Reasoned Action and are beyond the scope of this article. Though there was no significant difference of smoking prevalence among educational levels, there was a trend for increased smoking from undergraduate to diploma level with prevalences of: total sample, 26.2%; diploma, 30%; associate degree, 26%; and undergraduate, 24%. Health behaviours which were significantly different between smoking and non-smoking student nurses were breakfast frequency and coffee consumption. Having a regular exercise routine was not significant. Males smoked significantly more than females. More older nurses (over 40 years) smoked than younger nurses. The findings reported here are useful to the development of health education strategies designed to reduce and prevent cigarette use among student nurses.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)