Evaluations on actual conditions and consciousness of smoking at Tsurumi University:Questionnaires on the constituent members from 2003 to 2018.

Abstract

Abstract:
Background: Passive smoking, a major health risk, is even problematic in medical institutions and educational institutions. As a comprehensive university with a dental faculty department and a department of education system, we conducted a survey on the smoking rate for the purpose of understanding the smoking status of students, faculty, and staff.
Method: A survey on smoking rate for constituent members of Tsurumi University was conducted by self-filling bearer questionnaires. For the students, the questionnaires were collected at the beginning of the fiscal year, and for the teachers and staff during the health examination.
RESULTS: As a result of the survey from 2003 to 2018, the average smoking rate of the students decreased from the initial 13% to 4.5% in 2018. The average smoking rate of faculty staff decreased from 23.1% in the beginning to 13.5% in 2018. Regarding the smoking rate of the students, the smoking rate of the school of dental medicine is higher than that of the school of literature and the junior college department. In the school of dental medicine, the smoking rate of students of higher grades tends to be higher than that of the lower grades. Among teachers and staff, those in their twenties and thirties at affiliated hospitals, and the smoking rate of those in their thirties and forties in the dentistry department was high.
Conclusion: Students, faculty and staff all were confirmed to exhibit high smoking rates in specific groups. In particular, smoking cessation education and enlightenment activities were considered necessary for students and faculty and staff involved in clinical practice. At Tsurumi University, it has been decided to ban smoking entirely on the campus from 2020, which is expected to further decrease the smoking rate. From now on, we will investigate and consider the influence of the whole site smoking cessation in both on campus and off campus environments.