A tobacco-free universidade do Minho : A new reality

Abstract

Objectives: to characterize the pattern of consumption of Minho University (UM) students; to determine their knowledge and behaviour in relation to tobacco and Law nr. 37/2007; to know their opinion about the application of this law at UM and its impact on tobacco consumption and indoor air quality. Type of study: cross-sectional. Location: UM; Gualtar - Braga campus Population: Students enrolled in undergraduate or masters integrated programmes of UM, in the academic year of 2007/2008. Methods: A questionnaire was administered to a convenience sample of 334 individuals of the total 9028 students enrolled. A square test and a significance level of 0.05 were used. Results: 62% of students surveyed have tried tobacco, 5.8% of which did it college. In the sample 27.9% of students were smokers, and of these, 51.6% consumed between one and 10 cigarettes per day and 13% smoked more than 20 cigarettes per day. The majority stated not to smoke in enclosed public spaces and in the UM they only smoke in outdoors. Students showed a good level of knowledge regarding the impact of tobacco on health, which was lower in smokers and in those who have tried to consume. Most of the respondents knew of the existence of legislation prohibiting smoking in certain places, 96.1% agreed with the prohibition of the consumption in the enclosed spaces of UM and this opinion depended on being a smoker, because it was among those that some disagreed with the measure. In the opinion of 91.3% of respondents, the environment of indoor UM improved with the smoking ban. With this law, most students started to smoke only outdoors, 45.2% decreased their consumption and 24.7% stopped smoking. Conclusions: The Tobaccos Law seems to be contributing to reduce the number of smokers and to the protection of non-smokers from environmental tobacco.