Mina Anthony, Rahme Clara, Hallit Souheil, Soufia Michel
School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, P.O. Box 446, Jounieh, Lebanon.
Psychology Department, College of Humanities, Effat University, Jeddah, 21478, Saudi Arabia.
J Cannabis Res. 2022 Jul 2;4(1):34. doi: 10.1186/s42238-022-00144-x.
For a long period, cannabis in Lebanon was categorized as an illegal psychoactive substance criminalized by law, despite being the 3rd largest producer of cannabis resin after Morocco and Afghanistan. The current available literature on the topic in Lebanon is scarce, as perceived knowledge towards cannabis use in the general population is not well established, and public health policies are absent. In the context of future legalization of cannabis for both medical and recreational purposes, what is the public's perception of cannabis perceived knowledge about and attitude against cannabis use? The objectives of this study were to create two scales to assess perceived knowledge towards cannabis use and attitude against cannabis use and check their psychometric properties in a sample of Lebanese university students.
The study was designed as a cross-sectional study involving 415 Lebanese university students aged between 18 and 30 years. Students were only recruited from one university and were sent an email with a brief description of the study and a link to the questionnaire. The questionnaire items covered perceived knowledge and attitude about cannabis use, recovered and adapted from available literature.
Perceived knowledge items converged over a solution of four factors that had an Eigenvalue over 1, explaining a total of 64% of the variance (factor 1 = perceived knowledge about cannabis quality of life improvement; factor 2 = perceived knowledge about cannabis psychiatric use; factor 3 = perceived knowledge about cannabis risks; factor 4 = perceived knowledge about cannabis neurological use). Attitude items converged over a solution of two factors that had an Eigenvalue over 1, explaining a total of 58.2% of the variance (factor 1 = negative attitude about cannabis use; factor 2 = positive attitude about cannabis use). Good Cronbach's alpha values were found for the perceived knowledge and attitude scales (α = 0.78 and α = 0.73 respectively). Greater perceived knowledge was found in male participants and in those who have tried cannabis for recreational purposes. Greater perceived knowledge was also associated with stronger attitude about cannabis use and older age. Furthermore, greater mean attitude about cannabis use scores were significantly found in male participants and in those who have tried cannabis for recreational or medicinal purposes.
Primary results showed acceptable psychometric properties for the perceived knowledge towards and attitudes about cannabis use scale. Further studies are needed in order to validate them among the general population and assess more psychometric properties of these scales.
长期以来，黎巴嫩的大麻被归类为法律规定的非法精神活性物质，尽管该国是仅次于摩洛哥和阿富汗的第三大大麻树脂生产国。黎巴嫩目前关于该主题的现有文献稀缺，因为普通民众对大麻使用的认知尚未明确确立，且缺乏公共卫生政策。在大麻未来可能用于医疗和娱乐目的合法化的背景下，公众对大麻的认知、了解以及对大麻使用的态度是怎样的？本研究的目的是创建两个量表，以评估对大麻使用的认知和对大麻使用的态度，并在黎巴嫩大学生样本中检验它们的心理测量特性。
该研究设计为横断面研究，涉及415名年龄在18至30岁之间的黎巴嫩大学生。学生仅从一所大学招募，并通过电子邮件发送了研究的简要描述和问卷链接。问卷项目涵盖了从现有文献中收集和改编的对大麻使用的认知和态度。
认知项目汇聚为四个特征值大于1的因素，共解释了64%的方差（因素1 = 对大麻改善生活质量的认知；因素2 = 对大麻精神用途的认知；因素3 = 对大麻风险的认知；因素4 = 对大麻神经用途的认知）。态度项目汇聚为两个特征值大于1的因素，共解释了58.2%的方差（因素1 = 对大麻使用的负面态度；因素2 = 对大麻使用的正面态度）。认知和态度量表的克朗巴哈α值良好（分别为α = 0.78和α = 0.73）。男性参与者以及那些出于娱乐目的尝试过大麻的人具有更高的认知度。更高的认知度也与对大麻使用更强的态度和年龄较大有关。此外，男性参与者以及那些出于娱乐或医疗目的尝试过大麻的人对大麻使用的平均态度得分显著更高。
初步结果表明，对大麻使用的认知和态度量表具有可接受的心理测量特性。需要进一步研究以在普通人群中验证它们，并评估这些量表的更多心理测量特性。
