Cargando…

Knowledge and perceptions of synthetic cannabinoids among university students in Jordan

The emergence of blends of synthetic cannabinoids (SC) is an alarming public health concern in Jordan and worldwide. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and perceptions of university students of SC. A cross-sectional study employing a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data fro...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: AbuAlSamen, Mahmoud M., El-Elimat, Tamam, A. Almomani, Basima, A. Al-Sawalha, Nour
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8224919/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34166423
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253632
_version_ 1783711982988296192
author AbuAlSamen, Mahmoud M.
El-Elimat, Tamam
A. Almomani, Basima
A. Al-Sawalha, Nour
author_facet AbuAlSamen, Mahmoud M.
El-Elimat, Tamam
A. Almomani, Basima
A. Al-Sawalha, Nour
author_sort AbuAlSamen, Mahmoud M.
collection PubMed
description The emergence of blends of synthetic cannabinoids (SC) is an alarming public health concern in Jordan and worldwide. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and perceptions of university students of SC. A cross-sectional study employing a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 1,789 university students in Jordan. The questionnaire measured the knowledge and perceptions of students of SC. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to investigate the potential predictors of good knowledge of SC. Perceptions of students regarding SC use, prevalence and availability were investigated using principal component analysis. Self-reported familiarity with SC was high (92.5%), while good knowledge was only demonstrated by (33.6%) of students. Predictors of good knowledge included being a smoker (aOR = 1.369, 95% Cl = 11.041–1.871, p = .026), an alcohol user (aOR = 2.134, 95% CI = 1.362–3.346, p = .001), being informed by traditional media (aOR = 1.367, 95% CI = 11.113–1.679, p = .003), social media (aOR = 1.241, 95% CI = 1.161–1.403, p = .021) and self-familiarity with SC (aOR = 2.499, 95% CI = 1.518–4.114, p < .0001). Students perceived SC use to be prevalent and ethically unacceptable, for religious, social, and legal reasons. There were significant differences in the ethical perceptions against the use of SC detected by gender (p < .0001), smoking (p < .0001) or alcohol use (p = .001), and being informed by both traditional media (p-.001) and social media (p = .001), but there were no differences by the level of knowledge (p = .057). Those of good knowledge and those of low knowledge did not differ on their ethical perceptions of using SC. This study showed that there was a low level of knowledge regarding SC among university students in Jordan, which may play a role in the use of SC in the country. Herein, many opportunities exist for public health education to raise awareness against SC use.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8224919
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-82249192021-07-19 Knowledge and perceptions of synthetic cannabinoids among university students in Jordan AbuAlSamen, Mahmoud M. El-Elimat, Tamam A. Almomani, Basima A. Al-Sawalha, Nour PLoS One Research Article The emergence of blends of synthetic cannabinoids (SC) is an alarming public health concern in Jordan and worldwide. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and perceptions of university students of SC. A cross-sectional study employing a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 1,789 university students in Jordan. The questionnaire measured the knowledge and perceptions of students of SC. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to investigate the potential predictors of good knowledge of SC. Perceptions of students regarding SC use, prevalence and availability were investigated using principal component analysis. Self-reported familiarity with SC was high (92.5%), while good knowledge was only demonstrated by (33.6%) of students. Predictors of good knowledge included being a smoker (aOR = 1.369, 95% Cl = 11.041–1.871, p = .026), an alcohol user (aOR = 2.134, 95% CI = 1.362–3.346, p = .001), being informed by traditional media (aOR = 1.367, 95% CI = 11.113–1.679, p = .003), social media (aOR = 1.241, 95% CI = 1.161–1.403, p = .021) and self-familiarity with SC (aOR = 2.499, 95% CI = 1.518–4.114, p < .0001). Students perceived SC use to be prevalent and ethically unacceptable, for religious, social, and legal reasons. There were significant differences in the ethical perceptions against the use of SC detected by gender (p < .0001), smoking (p < .0001) or alcohol use (p = .001), and being informed by both traditional media (p-.001) and social media (p = .001), but there were no differences by the level of knowledge (p = .057). Those of good knowledge and those of low knowledge did not differ on their ethical perceptions of using SC. This study showed that there was a low level of knowledge regarding SC among university students in Jordan, which may play a role in the use of SC in the country. Herein, many opportunities exist for public health education to raise awareness against SC use. Public Library of Science 2021-06-24 /pmc/articles/PMC8224919/ /pubmed/34166423 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253632 Text en © 2021 AbuAlSamen et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
AbuAlSamen, Mahmoud M.
El-Elimat, Tamam
A. Almomani, Basima
A. Al-Sawalha, Nour
Knowledge and perceptions of synthetic cannabinoids among university students in Jordan
title Knowledge and perceptions of synthetic cannabinoids among university students in Jordan
title_full Knowledge and perceptions of synthetic cannabinoids among university students in Jordan
title_fullStr Knowledge and perceptions of synthetic cannabinoids among university students in Jordan
title_full_unstemmed Knowledge and perceptions of synthetic cannabinoids among university students in Jordan
title_short Knowledge and perceptions of synthetic cannabinoids among university students in Jordan
title_sort knowledge and perceptions of synthetic cannabinoids among university students in jordan
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8224919/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34166423
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253632
work_keys_str_mv AT abualsamenmahmoudm knowledgeandperceptionsofsyntheticcannabinoidsamonguniversitystudentsinjordan
AT elelimattamam knowledgeandperceptionsofsyntheticcannabinoidsamonguniversitystudentsinjordan
AT aalmomanibasima knowledgeandperceptionsofsyntheticcannabinoidsamonguniversitystudentsinjordan
AT aalsawalhanour knowledgeandperceptionsofsyntheticcannabinoidsamonguniversitystudentsinjordan