The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: GHPS was aimed to define the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of nursing students in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina related to tobacco prevalence, tobacco use in school premises/property, exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in home and public places, school policy regarding smoking at school and enforcement official policy banning, attitudes toward banning smoking in public places, cessation attitudes, knowledge of harmful effects of tobacco use, as also involvement of tobacco in school program.

Methods: GHPS survey in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was a school-based survey with a census of third year nursing students. Altogether 874 students were sampled from 15 schools. Overall response rates was 100.0% for schools and 86.0% for students.

Results: GHPS results underline high smoking prevalence rates in nursing students, with 1/3 of students currently smoke cigarettes and 1/3 of current smokers report a strong nicotine dependency . About 3 in 10 students smoked on school premises/property during the past year. Over 3/4 of students report second hand smoke exposure at home and public places. Over 9 in 10 students favor banning smoking in hospitals, over 3/4 of students favor banning smoking in all enclosed public places, 8 in 10 students think tobacco sales to minors should be banned, and almost 2/3 of students think there should be a total ban on advertising of tobacco products. Over 3/4 of nursing students were taught about the dangers of smoking in school, and about 2/3 of students discussed reasons why people smoke.