Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of active smoking and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure among medical students in Hong Kong, and their attitudes and beliefs towards tobacco control.
Study design: A cross-sectional survey with a self-administrated questionnaire.
Methods: All medical students from a university in Hong Kong were invited to participate in this survey and completed structured questionnaires. Descriptive data analyses were performed.
Result: In total, 313 medical students participated in this study (response rate 44.7%). Only 7.2% [95% confidence interval (CI) 4.3-10.1] reported having ever smoked and 0.7% (95% CI 0-1.6%) were current smokers. ETS exposure at home was reported by 19.3% (95% CI 14.9-23.8) of students, but the proportion of ETS exposure in public places was much higher (61.6%, 95% CI 56.2-67.1%). More than 85% of students had positive attitudes towards tobacco control, but 30.8% (95% CI 25.6-36.0) disagreed with banning smoking in disco/bars/pubs. Although the majority (93.1%, 95% CI 90.3-96.0) of students thought that health professionals should receive specific training for counselling on smoking cessation, only 38.0% (95% CI 32.5-43.5) reported having received any formal training in this area.
Conclusions: This study suggests that a specific professional training programme, including counselling on smoking cessation and actions on legislation and tobacco tax policy, should be built into the undergraduate medical curriculum.