Perception Regarding Substance Abuse in Medical Students

Abstract

Substance abuse can become hazardous for everyone, especially the medical students as the dependency may jeopardize their career. Substance Abuse refers to the hazardous use of psychoactive substances including alcohol, tobacco, pain medication and illicit drugs. It torments the physical, social and emotional well-being of an individual.Hence, we in our study will highlight the knowledge attitude and perception of medical students regarding drug abuse, so that we can combat this issue diligently.Data was collected from the undergraduate medical students by using a pre-validated, self-administered questionnaire after taking approval from the Institutional Ethical Committee.Demographic details of the participants in our study shows that the maximum study participants belong to the age group of yrs i.e. 21-23 yrs (50%), the mean age of the study group is 20.56 yrs, with female preponderance of 140 (66.67%).149 participants (70.95%) believe that substance abuse has become a common problem in medical students and according to 190 (90.48%) participants, the most affected age group is 18-30 years. 11 (5.2%) believe that substance abuse can have potential benefits, while 84 (40%) were not sure regarding this and the benefits stated by the study participants were euphoria.194 (92.38%) participants were aware of the long-term side effects of chemical dependence.The findings of the study suggest that substance abuse in an ongoing issue among medical students associated with deleterious consequences in various domains.