Nursing students’ perceptions of smoking prevention

Smoking behaviors of student nurses may have a profound effect on the implementation of smoking-prevention activities in the future, as they are the future nurses. The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of smoking among student nurses in Israel and to identify factors associated with the students’ attitude to their role in smoking prevention and to nurses as role models regarding smoking. Student nurses from three large academic schools (782 respondents) answered a self-administered questionnaire. About 22% reported being current smokers. The latter more frequently reported positive attitudes to nurses’ smoking and saw no ethical problems in their smoking. Smokers also reported less frequently that nurses should be active in smoking prevention. In a logistic regression model, attitudes to nurses’ role in smoking prevention, smoking status, and having friends who smoked were associated with the attitude to nurses as role models. Attitude to nurses as role models was the main variable explaining variance in attitudes to nurses’ role in prevention. Smoking status and students’ social environment exerted a marked influence on students’ attitudes to smoking role modeling. A more holistic approach to student nurses’ education about smoking prevention is called for.