IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i22p14877-d970440.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

New Psychoactive Substances: Awareness and Attitudes of Future Health Care Professionals in Serbia

Author

Listed:
  • Vesna Mijatović Jovin

    (Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia)

  • Nina Skoko

    (Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia)

  • Ana Tomas

    (Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia)

  • Dejan Živanović

    (Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Vocational Studies for the Education of Preschool Teachers and Sports Trainers, 24000 Subotica, Serbia
    Department of Psychology, College of Social Work, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia)

  • Darija Sazdanić

    (Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia)

  • Nemanja Gvozdenović

    (Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
    Clinical for Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology, Clinical Center of Vojvodina, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia)

  • Ana-Marija Vejnović

    (Department of Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
    Clinic for Psychiatry, Clinical Center of Vojvodina, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia)

Abstract

This study was conducted in order to evaluate prospective health care professionals’ (HCPs) awareness and attitudes regarding new psychoactive substances (NPSs) in the context of their future role in the prevention and treatment of NPS overdose and addiction. Correlates of NPS perception and use were also examined. This cross-sectional survey was performed on 490 students of the Faculty of Medicine, Novi Sad, Serbia, during 2017. NPS awareness was better in pharmacy students (IRR: 1.926, CI: 1.173–3.163, p = 0.010) than in medicine students—pharmacy students recognized 92.6% more NPS names than their peers studying medicine. Female students knew 36.5% less NPS names than their male colleagues (IRR: 0.635, CI: 0.399–1.013, p = 0.049). Number of NPS names students knew was rising by 15.9% with each age group—the higher the age, the larger the number of NPSs they were aware of (IRR: 1.159, CI: 1.025–1.310, p = 0.018). Students who had used marijuana knew 52.6% more NPS names than those who had never had experience with cannabis (IRR: 1.526, CI: 0.953–2.445, p = 0.049). Although a high number of future HCPs claimed to know what NPSs are, numerous misconceptions were noticed. Further educational efforts are necessary to improve their awareness and attitudes regarding NPSs.

Suggested Citation

  • Vesna Mijatović Jovin & Nina Skoko & Ana Tomas & Dejan Živanović & Darija Sazdanić & Nemanja Gvozdenović & Ana-Marija Vejnović, 2022. "New Psychoactive Substances: Awareness and Attitudes of Future Health Care Professionals in Serbia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-12, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:22:p:14877-:d:970440
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/14877/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/14877/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:22:p:14877-:d:970440. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.