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

Background: The study aimed to i) investigate the smoking habits of students attending tertiary institutions of learning in the Eastern Cape Province (ECP) and ii) determine the knowledge of the students about the health hazards of smoking and their attitude towards current government anti-smoking legislation.Methods This was a questionnaire-based study involving all seven tertiary institutions of learning in the ECP; viz. the Universities of Transkei; Fort Hare; Port Elizabeth and Rhodes University; and the Border; Eastern Cape and Port Elizabeth technikons. A total of 1 728 students were interviewed out of a student population of 30;080. Stratified random sampling was used to select the students. Two-way tables were used to test the independence of the variables and chi-square tests were applied. A `p' value of below 5was used as a test of significance.ResultsA total of 1 480 students completed the questionnaires (86). The racial classification of the respondents was 79Black; 13White; 7Coloured and 2Indian. Twenty-six per cent of the students were smokers; of which 37were male and 15were female. Forty-five per cent of the Coloured students smoked; while the figures for Whites and Blacks were 26and 25respectively. Seventy per cent of the students smoked less than 10 cigarettes a day. Fifty-two per cent of the smokers said they wanted to stop smoking. Sixty-one per cent had been influenced to start smoking by their friends and only 13were influenced by advertisements. Ninety-four percent agreed that smoking was dangerous to the smoker's health; while 73responded that there was a relationship between mothers who smoke and low birth weight. Thirteen per cent thought the legislation was too tough; while 30said it was good as it was. On measures to reduce smoking; 86favoured restricting smoking in public places.ConclusionThis study has demonstrated that smoking is prevalent in tertiary institutions of learning in the Eastern Cape Province. The demographic profile of the smokers reflects the national picture. The knowledge of the harmful effects of smoking is generally good

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

Gastric luminal epidermal growth factor is affected by diet.

OBJECTIVE: Diet is an area of major interest to those investigating the causes of cancer of the oesophagus in the Transkei. This study looked at the associations between intragastric epidermal growth factor level, diet and intragastric pH. SETTING AND SUBJECTS: A dietary survey was co-ordinated with studies of gastric luminal epidermal growth factor and gastric fluid pH in 120 rural Transkeians. RESULTS: Gastric fluid epidermal growth factor was associated with low dietary intake of animal products (p = 0.002) and vegetables (p = 0.026). There was no association with pH. CONCLUSION: A dietary subgroup has been identified in the Transkei population with high levels of epidermal growth factor in the upper gastrointestinal lumen. This adds to previously demonstrated diet-related changes in the upper gastrointestinal tract in Transkei. These changes may affect the disease pattern of the population.

Bimodal distribution of fasting gastric acidity in a rural African population.

SETTING: The people of Transkei eat a diet high in linoleic acid, the principal fatty acid in maize. The theory has been put forward that a diet high in linoleic acid and low in fat and riboflavin, such as the traditional diet in Transkei, results in overproduction of prostaglandin E2 in the gastric mucosa, and that this overproduction in turn causes a suppression of gastric acid production. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of diet on fasting gastric pH in a rural black African population. DESIGN: Fasting gastric acid samples were obtained by fine nasogastric tube aspiration from 150 volunteers at a rural health clinic. The pH of these samples was measured and a full dietary questionnaire was used. Helicobacter pylori serology was done on a subgroup of 30 volunteers. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A bimodal pH distribution was found. Approximately half the population had a gastric pH within the range 1-4. Half had a pH of over 4. A high pH was significantly associated with consumption of maize (p = 0.006), and with consumption of both pumpkin and beans (p = 0.006). A high proportion of this rural African population has a diet-associated abnormally high gastric pH. The pattern of upper gastrointestinal disease may be significantly affected by diet in this community and in others with a similar diet.