Alcohol, Tabacco and Substance Use among Nursing Students on the coast of Oaxaca

Abstract

Introduction. The consumption of psychoactive substances in the university course represents a public health problem, largely preventable. The repeated and prolonged use of these substances favours the development of dependence disorders and adverse consequences in the state of health, chronic degenerative diseases or interpersonal, family, academic, work and legal problems in people’s lives. Stress, fatigue, or changes in sleep patterns may be risk factors for drug use among nursing students. Objective: To determine the level of consumption of alcohol, tobacco and psychoactive substances in nursing students on the Oaxacan coast. Methodology. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 228 undergraduate nursing students from a university on the coast of Oaxaca (response rate of 71.25 % of the total undergraduate population), and information was collected in April 2022. A personal data questionnaire and the Alcohol, Tobacco and Substance Use Screening Questionnaire (ASSIST) version 3.1, developed by the World Health Organization, which categorizes the level of risk of dependence according to substance use, were used. Data were processed with SPSS software version 2.1.0. Measures of central tendency and relative frequencies were used. A letter of informed consent was used as an invitation to participate. Results. The mean age of participants was 21 years (SD ± 2.076); 78.5% (n=179) used substances among nursing students were: alcoholic beverages with 81.6% (n=186), tobacco with 44.3% (n=101) and cannabis with 35.5% (n=81). The prevalence of use for most substances is higher in men. Differences were identified in the substances most commonly consumed according to the semester the student population is in at the time of the study. 4.3%, 2.6% and 1.3% of the population were at high risk of alcohol dependence, cannabis use and tobacco use, respectively, indicating a high probability that they have had or are having health, interpersonal, social, economic or legal problems associated with the use of these substances. Conclusions. The use of psychoactive substances in the university stage represents a preventable public health problem, so it is urgent to implement strategies at different levels and areas of socialization of these populations.