Prevalence and Types of Substances Used Among College Students in a Professional Institute, Indore.

Dr. Thakur Apurv Bhupendra; Dr. Ritesh Upadhyay; Dr. R.R.Wavare; Dr. Jaya Singh; Dr. A. R. Deshpande

Volume : VII, Issue : IX, September - 2018

Prevalence and Types of Substances Used Among College Students in a Professional Institute, Indore.

Dr. Thakur Apurv Bhupendra, Dr. Ritesh Upadhyay, Dr. R. R. Wavare, Dr. Jaya Singh, Dr. A. R. Deshpande

Abstract :

As we find ourselves in the beginning of a new millennium, we are faced with challenges to our survival as a human population. Studies done in India as well as aoad point towards an increasing trend towards the prevalence of substance abuse in college students, as well as the general population.

The Objective of the study was to determine the prevalence and types of substances used among college students.

An institution based cross sectional survey was conducted to assess the prevalence and types of substances used among the students of four Professional colleges from December 2015 to December 2016. The population targeted was all the students, provided they met the pre requisites. The tool used was a pre–designed and pre–tested semi–structured questionnaire which was self–administered by the students.

The age of the participants was from 18 to 25 yrs. A total of 864 (62.93%) males and 509(37.07%) females agreed to participate in the study. The number of students who are originally from outside Indore are larger, 719(52.37), than those from Indore (47.63%). Alcohol seems to be the most popular substance among the students with a total of 327(23.82%) students using it followed by Smokable tobacco 296 (21.56%) students, Chewable Tobacco 103(7.5%) students, and Marijuana by 91 (6.63%) students. The number of students who seem to use illicit substances such as Amphetamines, Ecstacy and Injectable drugs is higher in the Medical College as compared to the other three colleges.

This study does manage to at least highlight some of the major issues that may be present in a large educational institution, and the strength of this study is the blend of students coming from varied fields of study.