Retief Mari, Verster Chris
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
S Afr J Psychiatr. 2016 Jun 24;22(1):795. doi: 10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v22i1.795. eCollection 2016.
The non-medical use of prescription psychostimulants or cognitive-enhancing substances among healthy college students is a growing concern. This use appears to be particularly high among medical students. To our knowledge, no literature is available on the non-medical use of stimulants among South African medical students.
To determine the prevalence and correlates of non-medical stimulant use as well as subjective opinion on peer numbers using stimulants and university attitude towards stimulant use among a sample of South African undergraduate medical students.
A descriptive observational study was conducted by means of a self-report questionnaire. Second- and fourth-year medical students ( = 252) completed the questionnaire.
Of the sample, 44 (18%) reported a lifetime use of stimulants for non-medical purposes and 33 (85%) of this group reported use within the past year. A total of six (2%) students reported a diagnosis of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In the group without a diagnosis of ADHD, non-medical stimulant use was associated with the year of study ( = 0.03) and illicit substance use ( = 0.01). Most of the students in this group (31, 32%) reported using stimulants to improve concentration.
Non-medical use of stimulants to improve concentration and academic performance is prevalent among the South African medical students sampled in this study. Further research at other institutions and under non-medical students would be helpful to assess the scope of this phenomenon.
健康大学生中处方精神刺激药物或认知增强物质的非医疗用途日益受到关注。这种现象在医学生中似乎尤为普遍。据我们所知，尚无关于南非医学生非医疗使用兴奋剂的文献。
确定南非本科医学生样本中兴奋剂非医疗使用的患病率及其相关因素，以及对同龄人使用兴奋剂数量的主观看法和大学对兴奋剂使用的态度。
通过自填问卷进行描述性观察研究。二年级和四年级医学生（n = 252）完成了问卷。
在样本中，44人（18%）报告曾有过非医疗目的使用兴奋剂的情况，其中33人（85%）报告在过去一年有过使用。共有6名（2%）学生报告被诊断为注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）。在未被诊断为ADHD的群体中，非医疗使用兴奋剂与学年（p = 0.03）和非法药物使用（p = 0.01）有关。该组中的大多数学生（31人，32%）报告使用兴奋剂是为了提高注意力。
在本研究抽样的南非医学生中，为提高注意力和学业成绩而非医疗目的使用兴奋剂的情况很普遍。在其他机构和非医学生群体中开展进一步研究，将有助于评估这一现象的范围。
