Publication: Prevalence of Psychoactive Drug Use among Medical Students in a Medical College of Nepal
Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nepal Medical Association
Abstract
Abstract:
Introduction: Psychoactive drug is a worrisome and emerging global problem. This is a disturbing matter, especially in the case of medical students, as it affects not only their health and academic performance alone but their clinical efficiency as well. This study aims to determine the prevalence of psychoactive drug use among medical students in a medical college in Nepal.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted after receiving ethical clearance from the Institutional Review Committee (Ref: 258/19) among undergraduate medical students from December 2019 to June 2020. Convenience sampling was used to collect data. Data analysis was done in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Point estimate at 95% confidence interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data.
Results: The prevalence of psychoactive drug abuse was found to be 76 (44.2%) [CI= 43.6%–44.8%]. The study showed males 59 (59%) were more indulged in abuse than females 17 (23.6%). Alcohol 72 (41.86%) was the most commonly used, then was tobacco 24 (13.95%) followed by cannabis 17(9.88%). Only two students were sedative and opioid abusers. Pleasure 38 (31.70%) and experimentation 29 (24.20%) were the two major causes of substance abuse. Tobacco was used more frequently 14 (58.33%) used daily and found to have more financial
and health-related issues in the last three months.
Conclusions: Even almost half of the students were using some form of psychoactive drugs, the majority of them were occasional users. Proper counseling needs to be done to address this problem. Further study should be conducted to address the influencing factors and adverse outcomes.
Description
Jyoti Tara Manandhar Shrestha
Department of Pharmacology, Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, Dhulikhel, Nepal
Saurabh Tiwari
Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, Dhulikhel, Nepal
Dilip Kumar Kushwaha
Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, Dhulikhel, Nepal
Pratigya Bhattarai
Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, Dhulikhel, Nepal
Risu Raj
Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, Dhulikhel, Nepal
Keywords
alcohol, medical student, psychoactive drugs, substance abuse