Tobacco smoking habits among nursing students and the influence of family and peer smoking behaviour

Aim. This paper is a report of a study assessing tobacco smoking habits among nursing students and how these are influenced by family members and peers. Background. Tobacco smoking among nursing students is a serious problem because of the public role model of these future healthcare professionals. Methods. The smoking attitude of nursing students attending the 3 year full-time course at the University of Milan in the academic years 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 was investigated. A total of 820 students filled in the self-administered questionnaire and 812 valid questionnaires were returned. The response rate was 87%. Results. Forty-four percent of the 812 students were tobacco smokers and 7% former smokers. Among the smoking students 75% had at least one smoking parent, 47% had at least one smoking brother or sister and 87% saw smoking friends. Conclusion. There is an urgent need to implement effective anti-smoking measures among nursing students. Decreasing the number of smokers among healthcare professionals would discourage people from smoking and would increase the credibility of anti-smoking campaigns.