title: Survey of student nurses and midwives: smoking and alcohol use.
abstract: This article presents findings from a survey of 186 first year nursing and midwifery students that relate to their smoking and alcohol consumption. Of the students sampled, 28% were cigarette smokers. This is higher than the smoking rate of 25% for the adult population in the UK. The majority of the students who smoked said that they would like to stop smoking. Most of the students (86.5%) reported having drunk alcohol on at least one occasion during the previous week, with 26.5% having had a drink on three or four days. The amount consumed over the week ranged from no drinks to 90, with the mean being 13.72.Worryingly, 74% had exceeded the daily benchmarks for low-risk drinking on at least one occasion during the week for which consumption was reported, and 55% were drinking at binge levels. The findings raise concerns for the future health of many of our students and for their roles as health promoters.
authors.forename: Hazel
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: Rosemary
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Whyte
authors.forename: Elgin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schartau
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jamieson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages / Q000032:analysis; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D000431:Ethanol / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009721:Nurse Midwives / Q000193:education; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012606:Scotland; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol