University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Dentistry, Omdurman, Sudan.
King Faisal University, College of Dentistry, AlAhsa, Saudi Arabia.
PLoS One. 2019 Feb 7;14(2):e0210837. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210837. eCollection 2019.
Health professionals are to play an essential and effective role in tobacco control. Toombak is a popular form of smokeless tobacco, locally made and used among Sudanese. It is associated with oral and systemic health hazards, particularly oral cancer. This study was set out to assess health professions students' perception of their status as future role models for their patients and the public regarding Toombak use cessation and to explore socio-cognitive covariates of perceived role model status.
A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2013-2014 using a self-administered questionnaire among health professions students enrolled in Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry and Nursing colleges in Khartoum state, Sudan. A total of 1530 participants were recruited from colleges using a cluster stratified sampling procedure.
The majority of the participants (88.2%) were 19-22 year old, females showed predominance (66.1%). Most of the participants (69.7%) scored good knowledge of Toombak-related therapies. The majority (97%) had a positive attitude towards banning Toombak use in public. Half of the participants (50.4%) confirmed availability of Toombak control policy in their college, while 66% reported receiving training in Toombak cessation. Only 9.2% of the participants reported that they have ever used Toombak; among them, 69.5% were current daily users. Less than half (47.8%) reported a positive perception of their status as a role model. Logistic regression model revealed that tobacco cessation training, availability of college policy and positive attitudes towards banning Toombak use in public were strong predictors of with a positive perception of role model status.
Imposing Toombak control policies within colleges combined with formal training in cessation methods, would reinforce the positive perception of health professions students as a role model, particularly the students themselves seem to be ready for such systematic training.
卫生专业人员在烟草控制中应发挥重要而有效的作用。图巴克是一种流行的无烟烟草形式，由苏丹当地人制造并使用。它与口腔和全身健康危害有关，特别是口腔癌。本研究旨在评估卫生专业学生对自己作为未来患者和公众的榜样地位的看法，以停止使用图巴克，并探讨感知榜样地位的社会认知协变量。
2013-2014 年，在苏丹喀土穆州的医学院、药学院、牙科学院和护理学院，对卫生专业学生进行了一项横断面研究，采用自我管理问卷进行调查。采用聚类分层抽样程序，从学院中招募了 1530 名参与者。
大多数参与者（88.2%）为 19-22 岁，女性占主导地位（66.1%）。大多数参与者（69.7%）对图巴克相关疗法的知识评分较好。大多数（97%）对禁止在公共场所使用图巴克持积极态度。一半的参与者（50.4%）确认其所在学院有图巴克控制政策，66%的人报告接受过图巴克戒烟培训。只有 9.2%的参与者报告曾经使用过图巴克；其中 69.5%为目前的每日使用者。不到一半（47.8%）的人认为自己作为榜样的地位是积极的。逻辑回归模型显示，戒烟培训、学院政策的可用性以及对禁止在公共场所使用图巴克的积极态度是对积极感知榜样地位的有力预测因素。
在学院内实施图巴克控制政策，并结合戒烟方法的正式培训，将增强卫生专业学生作为榜样的积极认知，特别是学生自己似乎已经准备好接受这种系统的培训。
