Smokeless Tobacco Use among Adolescents in Ilala Municipality; Tanzania

Smokeless tobacco use is a significant part of the overall world tobacco problem. When the habit is introduced early in life; it increases the chance for permanent addiction and primes adolescents for use of harder drugs; exposing them to higher risk of oral cancer and other adverse effects of tobacco. This baseline study aimed at providing descriptive information on smokeless tobacco knowledge and use among adolescents at a time just before the ban on such products was enforced nationally on 1st December 2006. Six out of 101 primary and four out of 11 secondary schools were randomly selected in Ilala Municipality; Tanzania. A total of 1011 students were randomly selected and interviewed; boys (mean age= 14.5 years) accounted for 50.7and girls (mean age= 13.6 years) 49.3. The prevalence of tobacco use was 5.9(boys= 9; girls= 2.4). Prevalence of smokeless tobacco use was 3.6; about half of all who have ever smoked. Most popular brand of smokeless tobacco reported was Kuberi (44.8) followed by Gutka (6.9). Twelve (41) of the smokeless tobacco users were using the products almost everyday. Among the reasons reported for smokeless tobacco use were pleasure (27.6); smell (17.2) and taste (6.9). However; 48.3of the users did not know why they used the product for the first time. Smokeless tobacco products were branded as nutritional supplements with different tastes and strengths; ideal for enticing the curiosity of adolescents. Given the crafty practice of the tobacco industry and salesmen; there is need for monitoring of availability of these products in circulation and enforcement of the ban nationally and globally to institute measures for effective elimination of this harmful practice

Prevalence and Correlates of Cigarette Smoking among Adolescents in Malawi: Results from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey 2005

The majority of adults who smoke cigarettes initiated the habit when they were adolescents or young adults. While rates of smoking and associated factors are known among 13-15 year olds in Malawi; correlates of cigarette smoking among adolescents in a national representative sample in Malawi have not been studied. We; therefore; carried out this study to estimate the prevalence of current smoking and determine its correlates in a nationally representative sample of in-school adolescents in Malawi. An analysis of the Malawi Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) 2005 was conducted. Using logistic regression analysis; we estimated the association between current cigarette smoking and potential explanatory variables. Overall; 2.5of adolescents (3.2among males; and 1.8among females) were current cigarette smokers. Smoking among parents was 9.6with no significant difference between males and females (10.3versus 10.1). Stronger associations with smoking were observed for friends smoking status (AOR=3.07; 95CI 2.99; 3.16); receiving pocket money (AOR=3.06; 95CI 2.98; 3.14); and perception that smoking increases body weight (AOR=2.98; 95CI 2.81; 3.16). Students who thought that cigarette smoking is harmful to health were 56(AOR=0.44; 95CI 0.43; 0.45) less likely to smoke than students who thought otherwise. Despite being the world's second leading grower of tobacco; the prevalence of cigarette smoking among adolescent is lower than has been reported elsewhere

The Smoking Habits; Attitudes Towards Smoking and Knowledge Regarding Anti-Smoking Legislation of Students in Institutions of Higher Learning in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

Backgroung: Following the introduction of a new; integrated; problem-oriented undergraduate medical curriculum at the University of Pretoria (UP) in 1997; a research project was undertaken to study interpersonal skills; professional attitudes; teamwork; ethics and related topics - which have come to be known collectively as 'soft skills'. This contribution is the first of two articles on the professional socialisation of medical students and their development of 'soft skills'. It describes the particular qualitative methodology developed for; and applied to; the study of soft skills among medical students at UP.Methods: This paper describes the aim of the study; reasons for adopting a qualitative research approach to achieve this aim; the theoretical orientation underpinning the qualitative approach that we considered most suitable; the design; the sampling; the data management and analysis; and the methods that we deployed to ensure the credibility of the findings.Research Design: The aim of the study was to explore the subjective meanings that students attributed to soft skills; as they understood them. These subjective meanings involve the way students interact meaningfully with fellow students; lecturers and other individuals participating in the medical and clinical education programme; and the way they construct shared conceptualisations of soft skills and medical education in their lives and social world. A qualitative approach was considered most appropriate; as this study set out to uncover subjective and diverse meanings that do not necessarily amount to generalisable truths. The particular qualitative strategy or design used was that of an extended case study; or 'casing'; within the modernist theoretical orientation of symbolic interactionism. Elements of process evaluation were incorporated into the design to account for the process of curriculum reform within which this study was embedded. We recruited participants for this study from two cohorts of students. The first group; who completed their studies in 2001; had followed the traditional curriculum; while the second group; who completed their programme in 2002; had followed the reformed curriculum. The data collection tools were face-to-face individual interviews; focused group interviews and solicited autobiographical sketches. The utilisation of more than one method or data source enabled triangulation or cross-checking of findings. We followed an inductive reasoning approach; which means that we did not search for data to test any hypotheses that had been formulated prior to commencing the study; but focused instead on building constructs that were grounded in or reflected intimate familiarity with the students' world.Conclusion: The modernist qualitative research approach enabled us to uncover; describe and illuminate the subjective points of view on soft skills as expressed by final-year medical students before and after curriculum reform. More specifically; by carrying out an extended case study we were able to perform a process evaluation of the curriculum reform in terms of soft skills and the professional socialisation of the students. This paper outlines how qualitative research methods enabled us to capture and explore aspects of the inner life (social worlds) of these students. Whether they would be the same; similar or different in another setting are questions for further exploration or research : questions prompted by our study in a manner that illuminates the qualities that may be inherent in these subjective meanings