Al-Hinaai Hazaa, Al-Busaidi Issa, Al Farsi Badriya, Al Saidi Yaqoub
Al Hammra Primary Health Center, Muscat, Oman.
Department of Family Medicine, Royal Oman Police Hospital, Muscat, Oman.
Oman Med J. 2021 Jan 31;36(1):e224. doi: 10.5001/omj.2021.04. eCollection 2021 Jan.
Many studies have confirmed that the use of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis is prevalent among university students. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of substance misuse among college students in Oman, identifying the most commonly used substances, and reviewing the effect of substance misuse on the students' performance.
This cross-sectional study was conducted in a higher learning institution in an urban setting in Oman from April 2018 to December 2018. A descriptive, self-administered online questionnaire, the Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test, version 3.0 (Arabic version), adapted from the World Health Organization was sent to 12 000 students at the college. The sample size was calculated using online software (Raosoft), with a margin of error of 5% and a confidence level of 95%.
A total of 375 students responded (response rate = 3.1%). The overall lifetime prevalence for any substance misuse (including tobacco and alcohol) among the participants was 41.3%, with the overall prevalence without tobacco or alcohol at 29.9%. Tobacco was the most common substance used, with a prevalence of around 23.5%, followed by alcohol at 10.7%. Male students had a significantly higher rate of substance abuse, for any substance, compared to female students ( < 0.001). There was a significant correlation between tobacco use, alcohol misuse, and misuse of other substances. Most of the adverse effects attributed to substance misuse reported by the respondents in this study were social (27.7%) and health-related (25.8%) problems. The impact of substance abuse on their performance was also high (23.8%). Furthermore, 15.4% of the respondents had financial problems, and 4.7%% were struggling with legal issues. Notably, only 49.1% of the respondents perceived that substance misuse was a serious problem.
Although college students are expected to be more aware of the negative impacts of substance misuse, this study found a high prevalence of smoking, alcohol, and other substance misuses among the group of Omani college students. Further research in this field is essential, and the results of this study have shed light on a critical problem among Omani college students. It is hoped that the findings of this study will be used and built on in future research to recognize students at risk of substance misuse from early school life, leading to early intervention, and potentially preventing the possible negative consequences.
许多研究证实，酒精、烟草和大麻的使用在大学生中很普遍。本研究旨在评估阿曼大学生药物滥用的流行情况，确定最常用的药物，并综述药物滥用对学生学业表现的影响。
本横断面研究于2018年4月至2018年12月在阿曼一个城市环境中的高等学府进行。一份描述性的、自填式在线问卷，即改编自世界卫生组织的《酒精、吸烟和物质使用筛查测试》第3.0版（阿拉伯语版），被发送给该学院的12000名学生。样本量使用在线软件（Raosoft）计算，误差幅度为5%，置信水平为95%。
共有375名学生回复（回复率=3.1%）。参与者中任何药物滥用（包括烟草和酒精）的终生总体患病率为41.3%，不包括烟草或酒精的总体患病率为29.9%。烟草是最常用的药物，患病率约为23.5%，其次是酒精，患病率为10.7%。与女学生相比，男学生任何药物的滥用率显著更高（<0.001）。烟草使用、酒精滥用和其他药物滥用之间存在显著相关性。本研究中受访者报告的大多数归因于药物滥用的不良影响是社会问题（27.7%）和与健康相关的问题（25.8%）。药物滥用对他们学业表现的影响也很大（23.8%）。此外，15.4%的受访者有经济问题，4.7%的人在法律问题上挣扎。值得注意的是，只有49.1%的受访者认为药物滥用是一个严重问题。
尽管大学生应该更清楚药物滥用的负面影响，但本研究发现阿曼大学生群体中吸烟、饮酒和其他药物滥用的患病率很高。该领域的进一步研究至关重要，本研究结果揭示了阿曼大学生中的一个关键问题。希望本研究结果将在未来研究中得到应用和拓展，以便从学生早期学校生活中识别出有药物滥用风险的学生，从而进行早期干预，并有可能预防可能的负面后果。
