2019 Volume 14 Issue 1 Pages 12-20
We aimed to evaluate how much a lecture on nicotine addiction could change awareness of smoking in young generations by introducing the Kano Test for Social Nicotine Dependence (KTSND). KTSND quantifies the severity of social nicotine dependence. We gathered the scores of the KTSND and the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) in an anonymous self-administered questionnaires format from Waseda University students who participated in “Mental and Physical Health” program as well as students in a nursing school in the Kanto region. At Waseda University (212 students, 58.0% male), the KTSND scores at the beginning and the end of the lecture decreased from 17.1 ± 4.2 (mean ± standard deviation) to 11.4 ± 5.1 in current smokers (14 students), from 17.6 ± 4.6 to 12.0 ± 4.1 in past smokers (13 students), and from 12.7 ± 5.1 to 8.0 ± 4.6 in non-smokers (185 students), respectively. At the nursing school (33 students; 2 males, one current smoker, one past smoker), the KTSND at the beginning of lecture was 11.1 ± 4.9 and decreased to 6.6 ± 4.0 at the end (all above data: p < 0.0001). The mean score of the FTND was 1.1 points, demonstrating that most of the current smokers in this study did not have any physical nicotine addiction. These results indicate that the lecture on nicotine addiction might obviate the risk of social nicotine dependence on smoking in young generations.
