Information Perception and Attitude Towards E-Cigarette Smoking Among Students at Six Smoke Free Pilot Schools in a Province in the Southern Border Region

Abstract

The research objectives were 1) to study the level of information perception about e-cigarettes, 2) to study the level of attitudes toward e-cigarette smoking, and 3) to examine the relationship between information perception, personal factors, and attitudes toward e-cigarette smoking among students at six smoke-free pilot schools in a province in the southern border region. The sample consisted of 207 students. Data were collected through an online questionnaire. The chi-square statistic and Pearson's correlation coefficient were used for data analysis. The results revealed that most of the sample group were aware of information about e-cigarettes online, 95.20 percent, and were aware of the negative effects of e-cigarettes. The most common issue of awareness was that e-cigarettes can cause serious diseases such as cancer, emphysema, heart disease, accounting for 98.6 percent, followed by e-cigarettes causing new youth smokers accounting for 96.6 percent. Attitudes towards smoking e-cigarettes, it was found that the sample had overall attitudes about smoking e-cigarettes at the level of low agreement (x ̅ = 2.16, S.D = 0.82). The health attitudes about smoking e-cigarettes was at the same level (x ̅ = 2.43, S.D = 0.95), and legal attitude regarding e-cigarettes was at the low agree level (x ̅ = 1.90, S.D = 0.99). Factors related to the attitude toward smoking electronic cigarettes include parents' marital status (P-Value = 0.035), and residence status (P-Value = 0.022) were significantly related to attitudes toward vaping at the P-Value ≤ 0.05 level. Regarding the relationship between information perceptions about e-cigarettes and attitudes toward e-cigarette smoking, the findings indicated a negative correlation (r = -0.339, P-Value < 0.01). Suggestions: Online media campaigns should be designed to raise awareness about the dangers of e-cigarette smoking among youth, as most young people obtain information from online sources, and the perception of information about the harms of e-cigarettes was related to negative attitudes towards smoking e-cigarettes. In addition, parents or family members living with young people should be encouraged to know and understand e-cigarettes to prevent youth from smoking electronic cigarettes. Furthermore, parents or family members who the youth live with should be encouraged to educate themselves about e-cigarettes to prevent youth from using them.