Abstract
Objectives This study was aimed at comparing the predictors of health-promoting lifestyle behaviors between smoking and nonsmoking medical students at An-Najah National University located in Palestine. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed during the academic year 2017/2018. Medical students were asked to complete a self-reported questionnaire that involved the predictors of Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II. With the use of a suitable available sample composed of a total of 430 medical students, 400 had successfully completed the questionnaire and were included in the study. The data was analyzed by using SPSS version 24 software. Results The sample included 400 medical students with a mean age of 18.7 years, 311 (77.7%) were females, and 89 (22.3%) were males. The prevalence of smokers in the sample was 110 (27.5%). For the health status of over half the students, 211 (52.8%) were excellent. The total HPLP-II score for smoking students resulted to be significantly lower in comparison to nonsmoking students (131.2 versus 135.7). This significant difference was clear in the interpersonal relation subscale (25.6 versus 26.8) for smoking and nonsmoking students, respectively. The score differences in other subscales were generally lower in smoking students. However, these differences were not consistent with statistical significance. Conclusion The significant lower total Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II score in smoking students necessitates the urgent need for awareness programs, not only towards smoking but also on how to enhance student health-promoting lifestyle behaviors.
Highlights
Smoking is considered a central public health problem as it is among the leading preventable causes of death worldwide [1]
Our results showed that the differences between smoking and nonsmoking medical students were insignificant in all Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II) subscales with the exception of the Interpersonal Relations (IR) subscale which was significantly lower in nonsmoking students
This study provides new information about the possible impact of smoking status among medical students on the performance of health-promoting lifestyle behaviors (HPLBs)
Summary
Smoking is considered a central public health problem as it is among the leading preventable causes of death worldwide [1]. Palestine has very limited income resources and suffers from the continuity of the rising rate of smokers, among university students [4,5,6]. Such status can be quite frustrating because it is reported that the earlier the smoking intake, the more susceptible an individual can be for cancer, heart disease, and other health-related consequences [7, 8]. Previous studies in Arab countries, including Palestine, focused on the estimation of the prevalence, awareness, patterns, and attitudes of smoking [3, 9, 10]. Some studies within the Arabian Peninsula and nearby countries addressed the unhealthy behaviors and lifestyle among
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