Prevalence of Substance Abuse among Students in Medical Training Colleges in South Nyanza Region, Kenya

Abstract

Substance abuse among the youth is a worldwide public health challenge. An estimated 10-15% of medical students risk substance abuse in their lifetime. Risk potential evaluation would inform appropriate intervention. This study sought to establish the prevalence of substance abuse among medical students. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out involving students in Medical Training Colleges in South Nyanza region, Kenya. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect information on substance abuse. Results: 303 students were recruited for this study. The mean age of the respondents was 21.96 years (18-23, S.D 0.4) with majority being females. Nearly all respondents were Christians 295 (97.4%). More than half (n=159, 52.5%) of the respondents reported having ever used at least one substance. Those who had ever used and who sustained the use of the substances respectively was as follows: alcohol 52.5%, 27.4%; tobacco 12.2%, 2.6%; khat 17.5%, 3.6% and marijuana, 9.2%, 2.0%. Among the prescription drugs, diazepam was abused by 7 (2.3%) of the respondents while shisha (6.6 %) was the commonly abused among the emerging substances of abuse. Conclusion: The lifetime prevalence of any one of the substances abused by students in the medical training colleges was high. There is need for the management of these colleges to mainstream substance abuse preventive measures in their policies.