Attitudes and Associated Demographic Factors Contributing towards the Abuse of Illicit Drugs: A Cross-Sectional Study from Health Care Students in Saudi Arabia.

Wajid Syed,Nasir A Siddiqui,Omer Noman,Ramzi A Mothana,Ayesha Iqbal

doi:10.3390/medicina58020322

Wajid Syed, Nasir A Siddiqui + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina58020322

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Abstract

Background and objective: The purpose of this study is to compare the attitudes, views, and factors that influence drug abuse among pharmacy and nursing students at a Saudi Arabian university. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study, was conducted among pharmacy and nursing students who are currently enrolled in the respective courses at the study site. The data were collected over 4 months from August to November 2019 using structured self-administered paper-based questionnaires. Results: Among the participants, pharmacy students accounted for 184 (58.2%) while 132 (41.8%) of the students were from nursing. More than a third of the students 129, (40.8%) smoked cigarettes. The majority of pharmacy (80.4%) and nursing students (67.4%) reported having undertaken a drug misuse course in college. Among the participants, 132 (41.7%) stated that an offer from friends, followed by joy seeking 129 (40.8%), parents’ divorce 126 (39.8%), having access to drugs 125 (39.5%), family issues 110 (34.8%), 66 (20.8%) having a family member who is addicted, and 101 (31.9%) reported curiosity to be the factors regarding the use of abusive drugs. Transient euphoria (75.9%) followed by depression 197 (62.3%) was the most prevalent physical or psychological change that occurred following drug use. The family size and father’s education have significantly affected the attitudes scores of the students (F = 5.188; p = 0.0001). Conclusion: In this study, joy-seeking, access to drugs, and family issues were found to be the major factors listed as reasons for drug abuse, with some of them being controllable or reversible. Educating about the adverse outcomes of abused drugs is warranted.

Highlights

In this study, joy-seeking, access to drugs, and family issues were found to be the major factors listed as reasons for drug abuse, with some of them being controllable or reversible
This study significantly contributes to identifying factors that could contribute to the use of illicit drugs and prohibited substances among the young population and university students in Saudi Arabia and will serve as a baseline study for further studies looking at developing targeted interventions and services to reducing the risk of predisposing factors or helping in the management and withdrawal of addictive substances
Our study highlights the attitudes and perceptions of students toward factors contributing to drug abuse

Summary

Introduction

The use of abusive or prohibited substances remains a growing problem among young individuals and students, which contributes to socioeconomic and humanistic burden worldwide [1,2]. According to the United Nations world drug report, in 2021 globally around 275 million individuals used prohibited substances, and 13% of abusers suffered from drug use disorders [3]. The global prevalence of prohibited substances in 2019 was 5.5% [3,4]. The global statistics report in 2021 stated, over 11 million populations, are estimated to use injectable drugs, most of them were suffering from hepatitis [3,4]. A recent study among adolescents in 2021 reported alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine were the most commonly abused drugs. The most commonly used prohibited substances among teenage students were found to be cannabis (17%) followed by nicotine (17%) [5]. The highest prevalence of using prohibited substances was found in North

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