Are Informing Knowledge and Supportive Attitude Enough for Tobacco Control? A Latent Class Analysis of Cigarette Smoking Patterns among Medical Teachers in China

Identifying and exploring the self-management strategies used by childhood cancer survivors

PURPOSE

Childhood cancer survivors (CCSs) are at increased risk of chronic health problems. Effective self-management could help CCSs cope with the challenges that accompany survivorship and reduce their risk of developing further health problems. There is little evidence about the extent to which CCSs engage with self-management and the specific strategies they use. This study aimed to identify and explore the strategies that CCSs use to manage the consequences of cancer.

METHODS

Twenty-four CCSs were recruited via follow-up clinics. Participants completed a semi-structured interview which was audio-recorded and transcribed. Directed content analysis was used to identify self-reported self-management strategies and categorise them into main self-management types.

RESULTS

CCSs reported 118 specific self-management strategies which fell under 20 main self-management strategy types. All CCSs reported using several main self-management strategy types and specific self-management strategies. Main strategy types used by all CCSs were "adopting a healthy lifestyle", "self-motivating", "using support", "reasoned decision-making" and "creating a healthy environment". The most common specific self-management strategies were "receiving family support" (n = 20) and "attending follow-up and screening appointments" (n = 20).

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first study which has enabled CCSs to self-report the numerous strategies they employ to look after their health and well-being, contributing to a more comprehensive picture of self-management in CCSs.

IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS

These findings may increase healthcare professionals' awareness of the many ways in which CCSs manage their health and is a valuable first step in the development of a supported self-management intervention for CCSs in follow-up care.

Tobacco use and attitudes on tobacco control among faculty members of a medical school in Northern Cyprus (tobacco use among medical teachers)

The smoking prevalence of medical faculty members has not been a subject of research as frequently as physicians and medical students. The objective of this study was to determine the status of tobacco use and some attitudes among medical faculty members of a Northern Cyprus university. The data were collected by a questionnaire of 22 questions, developed in compliance with WHO guidelines. The data were analyzed using IBM-SPSS 23.0 with p < .05 evaluated as significant. For this cross-sectional study, 128 members of the 146 academics responded (response rate of 87.7%). Lifetime smoking frequency was 46.9%. Current smokers comprised 21.9% while 7.0% consumed non-cigarette products with overall tobacco use of 26.6%. Of the smokers, 52.9% had started smoking at medical school. Regarding doctors being nonsmoking role models, positive attitudes were expressed significantly more by non-smokers than smokers. Only 33.8% were covering tobacco control in their teaching programs while 86.5% had positive attitudes for comprehensive tobacco control in the curriculum. The medical faculty members had a relatively high frequency of tobacco use and the tobacco issue did not have sufficient content in the education programs. Promisingly, the majority of the medical faculty members were in a supportive attitude for comprehensive tobacco control education.

Current Smoking Behavior Among Medical Students in Mainland China: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of current smoking among medical students in mainland China through a systematic search across 6 electronic databases for English or Chinese studies published before May 25, 2018. A total of 79 studies were included; 26 had a high risk of bias. The overall pooled prevalence of current smoking was 10.93% (7460/68 253; 95% confidence interval = 0.09%, 13.08%, I² = 98.6%). This study found a decreasing prevalence of current smoking over the period studied (survey year range of 1988-2014). More specifically, the current smoking prevalence in males decreased progressively across time, while the prevalence in females remained relatively constant. The overall prevalence in the west was higher than in the middle or east of mainland China ( P = .0061). The overall prevalence of current smoking increased with year in school ( P = .0028). The present study provides a comprehensive synthesis of current smoking prevalence among medical students in mainland China. Although there have been some improvements in the status of tobacco use among medical students, given the leading role of physicians in tobacco control, sustained efforts are needed to curb the tobacco epidemic among medical students.

Cigarette Smoking and Respiratory System Diseases in Adolescents

Respiratory system diseases are common in youngsters, smoking being one of the main cause of them. In this article, results are presented of a survey-type study on smoking and respiratory malady conducted in 3108 high school students from the Mazovian Region in Poland. The questionnaire made for this study contained questions concerning the health status, chronic diseases, and the cigarette smoking habit. The subjects were high school student aged 15-19. Overall, 1694 males and 1414 females were enrolled in the study. Regarding males, 66.4 % of them were non-smokers, 18.1 % smoked up to 20 cigarettes daily, and 15.5 % smoked more than 20 cigarettes daily; 12.5 % of all smokers smoked longer than one year. Overall, 38.5 % of males reported symptoms of chronic bronchitis. When stratified by the smoking habit, chronic bronchitis was reported by 21 % of non-smokers and 71 % of all smokers. Regarding females, 77 % of them were non-smokers, 16 % smoked up to 20 cigarettes daily, and 7 % more than 20 cigarettes daily; 8 % of all smokers smoked longer than one year. Overall, 35 % females reported symptoms of chronic bronchitis. When stratified by the smoking habit, chronic bronchitis was reported by 23 % of non-smokers and 75 % of smokers. Bronchial asthma was reported by 22 (0.7 %) subjects, none of them was a smoker. In conclusion, males more often than females smoked cigarettes. The number of persons complaining of symptoms of chronic bronchitis was markedly higher in the group of smokers. The study shows that smoking is a key cause of chronic bronchitis in adolescents. That implies a need for enhanced educational activity on the adverse effects of smoking and undertaking active anti-smoking campaigns at the level of high school.