Nigerian Medical Students’ Opinions about Individuals who use and Abuse Psychoactive Substances

Abstract

Substance use disorders are prevalent in Nigeria. The number of available specialist health providers is inadequate to fill the treatment gap. Interventions can be provided by nonspecialist health providers and have been found to be beneficial. However, attitudes toward substance misuse and misusers can impede the provision of this service. We aimed to determine attitudes of medical trainees toward substance use by utilizing a modified form of the Substance Abuse Attitude Scale (SAAS). Medical students (n = 200) had positive attitudes toward individuals who misuse psychoactive substances. The medial students, however, preferred treatment to be offered by trained specialists and held restrictive views regarding cannabis and alcohol use. More positive attitudes were expressed by participants who were male or had a lifetime history of psychoactive substance use. The role of personal and family-related psychoactive substance use factors are probably associated with attitudinal responses and would require further exploration.

Illness Perceptions of Addiction and Substance Use Patterns among Psychology Students

“…Moreover, among students who use nicotine, higher levels of nicotine use were associated with the perception that addiction is understandable (moderate correlation). These findings are in line with previous findings that medical students with more positive expectancies of the effects of substance use more regularly use alcohol or other psychoactive substances, compared to those with more negative expectancies of the effects of substance use [28]. More positive expectancies on the effects of substance use and illness perceptions of addiction might therefore both relate to increased levels of substance use among students.…”

“…In line with previous studies male students tended to report more substance use compared to females [28,31,33]. It has been shown that among male students the number of students who drink alcohol increases during their college years, but remains stable among females [33].…”

Cannabis Use Disorder Among First-Year Undergraduate Students in Gaborone, Botswana

“…Nevertheless, the prevalence rate was within the ranges from estimated rates and studies done elsewhere. 12,14,22 While most of the students who admitted to Cannabis use in the last 12 months did not have CUD, this study elicited its presence in 4.7% of the participants, possibly because some students use cannabis occasionally, and for recreational and social reasons. Such motivation for Cannabis use has been found in earlier studies in Botswana.…”

Prevalence of Cannabis Use Among Medical Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…Thus, after complete review, 38 studies were included in the systematic review ( Figure 1 ). From them, 11 referring to Europe: 6 the United Kingdom, 13 – 18 2 Spain, 19 , 20 1 Croatia, 21 1 France, 22 and 1 Serbia 23 ; 13 to the United States 24 – 36 ; 8 to the Central and Southern America: 7 Brazil 37 – 43 and 1 Honduras 44 ; 4 to Asia: 2 India, 45 , 46 1 Iran, 47 and 1 Nepal 48 ; as well as 2 to Africa, Nigeria 49 , 50 ( Table 1 ). No study was identified for Oceania.…”