Background There is a lack of evidence on healthcare professionals’ attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs about medical cannabis in Cyprus and across the world. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge about MC use among nurses and midwives in Cyprus. Special focus was given to differences across gender, age, religion, marital status, and years of work experience. Methods A descriptive, cross-sectional correlational study with internal comparisons was conducted during the 26th Nurses and Midwives Congress in Cyprus. All active nurses and midwives (convenience sampling), from the private and national healthcare services (n = 526) were eligible to participate. To analyze the data, the Pearson Chi-square test for group differences was employed, and descriptive and inferential statistics were assessed. Results The final sample population consisted of 232 nurses and midwives (response rate of 46.4%). In total, 67(28.9%) participants were male, and 165(71.1%) were female. Cypriot nurses and midwives reported lack of knowledge regarding the risks and benefits about MC use to patients. However, specific number of participants believed MC use was considered acceptable for the patients with persistent muscle spasms, insomnia/sleeping disorders, mental health conditions, and terminal illnesses. The vast majority of the participants believed that formal training on MC should be integrated into academic programs, and expressed the necessity of urgent training under the current curriculum, as well as, educational training programs about MC use should be integrated into the practice/clinical practice. Concerning the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants, gender had a statistically significant positive effect on participants’ attitudes and beliefs about MC (p < 0.01, 26.8% vs. 13.4%). Male and unmarried participants reported higher frequency about cannabis use for recreational purposes, compared with female group (p < 0.01, 22.8%Vs 11.4%). Unmarried participants agreed that using cannabis might develop serious mental health risks compared with married participants group (p < 0.05, 77.9% vs. 66.8%). Conclusions The conclusions seem to be rather recommending in favor of MC use. Participants proposed enriching nursing curricula with theoretical and clinical/laboratory courses about MC during studies and clinical practice. Additional tailoring interventions should be established to decrease recreational cannabis use among Cypriot nurses and midwives.

Background: Although the international research-based literature from the last two decades seems to favour medical cannabis (MC) use, there is a lack of evidence concerning healthcare students’ education on MC in Cyprus and across the world. Therefore, this study explored Cyprus healthcare students’ attitudes, beliefs and knowledge regarding MC use. We paid special attention to differences across specific sociodemographic (gender, age and religion status) and educational (level, year and study field) characteristics. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study with internal comparisons was performed from November 2019 to March 2020. All active undergraduate/postgraduate healthcare students (N= 900) studying in public and private universities in Cyprus were eligible to participate (final sample involved N = 819, response rate = 91%). To collect the data, we used the Attitudes, Beliefs and Knowledge towards Medical Cannabis Questionnaire (MCQ) questionnaire. To analyse the data, we employed the Pearson chi-square test for group differences, in addition to assessing descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Healthcare students had a generally positive attitude towards MC. Statistically significant differences were observed between genders and in terms of beliefs/risk associated with using MC, with males being likelier to believe that there are significant mental-health benefits associated with using ΜC (x2 = 8.06, OR: 0.6, 95% CI: 0.49–0.89) and females being likelier to believe that using MC poses serious physical (x2 = 23.00, OR: 1.6, 95% CI: 1.35–2.0, p < .001) and mental-health (x2 = 13.06, OR: 1.4, 95% CI: 1.2–1.81) risks. Moreover, healthcare students who received specific (formal) education about MC during their study/training, they were more prepared to answer patient/client questions about ΜC (x2 = 17.27, df = 1, p < .001). In addition, the participants who received formal education had more friends (x2=12.69, df=1, p <.001) or family member who uses/has used MC (x2=4.03, df=1, p <.05). Conclusions: This study provides useful information for curriculum development, educational changes and policy decisions related to cannabis use for medical purposes in Cyprus. The results show that the majority of healthcare students in Cyprus are in favour of MC use. However, the participants reported a dearth of knowledge and recommended additional evidence-based research and education to enhance their knowledge of MC use. Therefore, we recommend the implementation of formal education about MC in healthcare students in Cyprus during their study and clinical training. Furthermore, it is important to add MC-related theoretical and clinical/laboratory courses during studies and clinical practice.

Background Previous research indicates a causal link between stressful life experiences and mental health status. However, little is currently known about the impact of the frequency and seriousness of recent stressful life events on clinical mental discomfort among college students. The aim of this study was to explore the mental health status of undergraduate university students in Cyprus, particularly the association between the severity and number of stressful life events and their mental health status. Methods This cross-sectional descriptive correlational study was conducted to evaluate mental health among undergraduate students. The General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) scale was applied to assess the psychological symptoms of the students and the Life Events Scale for Students (LESS) instrument stressful life events. Results After adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics with logistic regression analysis, it was confirmed that the variable that remained before and after the comparison of stressful life events is gender, with females being 1.6 times more likely to report clinical mental distress symptoms (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.98–2.46). An association exists between clinical mental distress symptoms (GHQ-28 ≥ 24) and stressful life events, which are indicative of the severity of life stressors in a student’s life, and clinically significant mental distress symptoms (x2 = 56.64, df = 1, p < .001), where an association was observed between high scores on the LESS. However, a statistically significant association was observed between gender and mental distress symptoms. Specifically, females had a higher level of mental distress than did males [n = 595 (56.6%) vs. n = 213 (47.4%), x2 = 10.65, OR: 1.44, 95% CI: 1.15–1.80, p = .001]. Conclusion Individual characteristics, stress, negative life events and psychological distress are all interconnected. University students are a population that is at risk of mental disorders owing to the exceptionally high frequency of mental health issues in this group. The findings emphasise the necessity of widespread early interventions to shield university students against the onset of severe mental illness.

Background: There is a lack of evidence on the attitudes, knowledge and beliefs towards medical cannabis (MC) in healthcare professionals, nationally and internationally. Additionally, there is lack of knowledge, and clinical guidance on MC use among healthcare professionals. We aimed to explore the attitudes, beliefs and knowledge of nurses and midwives on MC use in Cyprus. Special focus was given on gender differences, age group, religion, family status and work experience. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional correlational study with internal comparisons was performed on nurses and midwives during the 26th Nurses and Midwives Congress in Cyprus. All active nurses and midwives from public and private sector of private and national healthcare services (n=526) were eligible to participate. Pearson chi-square test for group differences was employed. Descriptive and inferential statistics were assessed.Results: The sample consisted of 232 nurses and midwives (the response rate was 46.46%), while 28.9% of them were male and 71.1% were female (mean: 32.3 years, SD: 9.2, range: 21–70). The participants reported lack of knowledge on MC effectiveness in the majority of the disorders included in the questionnaire. Nevertheless, they reported that MC was acceptable for persistent muscle spam (28.9%), insomnia/sleeping disorders (26.7%), mental health conditions (28%) and terminal illness (20.3%). Male and unmarried participants more frequently reported cannabis use cannabis recreational purposes (p<0.01), and that they had a friend who used cannabis for recreational purposes (p<0.05). Moreover, the age group of 20-30 years, more frequently agreed that additional research on MC needs to be integrated into academic programs (p<0.05)Conclusions: Enrichment of nursing curricula with theoretical and clinical/ laboratory courses in MC, during their studies, and during their employment in clinical settings is proposed. Additional interventions to decrease recreational cannabis use among Cypriot nurses and midwives should be considered based on gender and age.

BackgroundAlthough international research-based literature from the last 2 decades seems to favor the use of medical cannabis (MC), there is a lack of evidence concerning healthcare students’ education on MC in the Republic of Cyprus and across the world. Therefore, this study explores healthcare students’ attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge regarding the use of MC. We paid special attention to differences across specific sociodemographic (gender, age, and religion status) and educational (level of study and study field) characteristics.MethodsA descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted between November 2019 and March 2020. All active undergraduate and postgraduate healthcare students (nurses, physiotherapists, speech therapists, pharmacists, and occupational therapists; N = 900) studying in public and private universities in the Republic of Cyprus were eligible to participate (final sample: N = 819, response rate = 91%). To collect data on the attitudes, beliefs and knowledge of the participants, we used the Medical Cannabis Questionnaire (MCQ). To analyze the data, we employed the Pearson’s chi-square test for group differences, in addition to assessing the descriptive and inferential statistics.ResultsApproximately 82.2% believed that MC education should be integrated into the clinical practice requirements. Statistically significant differences were observed between genders in terms of beliefs/risk associated with the use of MC, with males being more likely to believe that there are significant mental-health benefits associated with using ΜC compared to females (84.9% vs. 76.2%, p&lt;0.05). Females were more likely than males to believe that using MC poses serious physical (76.8% vs. 60.6%, p&lt;0.001) and mental-health (77.9% vs. 66%, p&lt;0.001) risks. Moreover, participants who received formal education about MC during their study/training were more prepared to answer patient/client questions about ΜC (p &lt; 0.001). In addition, participants who received formal education had more frequently friends (p &lt; 0.001) or family members who used MC (p &lt; 0.005).ConclusionThis study provides useful information for curriculum development, educational changes, and policy decisions related to cannabis use for medical purposes in the Republic of Cyprus. The results showed that the majority of the healthcare students who participated in the study favored MC use. However, the participants reported a lack of knowledge and recommended additional evidence-based research and education to enhance their knowledge about MC use. Therefore, we recommend the implementation of formal education on MC among healthcare students in the Republic of Cyprus during their study and clinical training. Furthermore, it is important to include MC-related theoretical and clinical/laboratory courses during studies and clinical practice.