Knowledge, attitude, and performance towards crack abuse side effects according to the students gender and kind of faculty

(	Maryam Nooritajer Correspondence: Associate Professor Islamic Azad University; Islamshahr Branch Iran Email: maryamnoorytajer@yahoo.com

Abstract Introduction: Today, Substance Abuse is one of the most important problems in the world, which is known as an ominous and ruinous crisis that can increase human mortality rate all over the world. Crack abuse is nowadays considered the leading cause of consulting withdrawal institutes, which reveals the increasing addiction rate with this high-risk substance in Iran. This study design was based on a cross -sectional method and the main aim is to determine the Knowledge, attitude, and performance towards crack abuse side effects according the students gender and pertinent faculty. Methods: The present descriptive and analytical research Knowledge, attitude, and performance towards crack abuse side effects according to the students gender and the research population (n = 906) consisted of all the students from different faculties of Islamic Azad University, Islamshahr Branch and were selected using the stratified sampling method and were allocated to respective groups according to gender. The data collection tool was a questionnaire. The research data were analyzed using the t-test, and also Chi-square and ANOVA tests and the Pearson correlation coefficient. Result: Data related to the measurement of the students 'knowledge , attitude, and performance regarding the short-term and long-term crack abuse side effects are shown in Tables 1, 2, 3, and 4. The results obtained revealed that students' needs assessment towards crack abuse side effects at three levels, namely their knowledge, attitude and performance were lower than 50%; such that 58.2% had a low-level knowledge, 55.5% had a negative attitude, and 49% of them had an unfavorable performance level. Conclusion: The findings related to the comparison of the mean male and female students' knowledge , attitude, and performance regarding crack abuse side effects revealed a statistically significant correlation at the areas of attitude and performance; also a statistically significant correlation was observed between gender and attitude (mean attitude among females and males was 71.10 and 68.97, respectively) and between gender and performance (mean performance among females and males was 78.5 and 73.9, respectively), i.e. attitude and performance was higher among females. (P < 0.000 in all cases). Key words: Knowledge, attitude, performance, crack abuse, side effects, students' gender, kind of faculty

Introduction
Today, Substance Abuse is one of the most important problems in the world, and is known as an ominous and ruinous crisis that can increase human mortality rate all over the world. Crack abuse is nowadays considered the leading cause of consulting withdrawal institutes, which reveals the increasing addiction rate with this high-risk substance in Iran. Addiction has also caused many social problems in Iran. Several important socio-economic events such as a petroleum-related economy, the 8-year war against Iraq, population overgrowth, expanding global communicative technology, increased expectations of the young generation, the trend of industrial development and the related complications such as immigration and unemployment, are all issues that make the Iranian society more vulnerable to addiction (1).

Nearly 11% of the young substance abusers in Iran don't believe these substances cause addiction (2), and the satisfaction achieved after abuse often causes tendency for continuous abuse. Therefore, neglecting the accelerated widespread prevalence of substance abuse and the related complications among the student population; and the production of laboratory synthetic substances such as crack, ecstasy, and crystal (suggesting an impending and widespread threat) on one hand, and the lack of related research, reliable and basic statistical data; unknown motives, methods, patterns, and prevalence of substance abuse among students; unknown relationship between substance abuse and problematic situations (such as motiveless and decreased efficacy of learning, living away from family members, living in dormitories, organic and mental illnesses, feeling loss of identity, and promiscuous sexual behavior) on the other hand (3), reveals the necessity of intervention by different social groups (especially health care professionals), as they can play an important role in formulating educational programs; and as the first step in formulating an educational program is determining students' needs assessment, the most effective approach for determining an appropriate educational content is needs-analysis. Therefore, coordination between educational programs and needs assessment is an important issue that needs to be considered. Thus, the researchers aimed at determining students' needs assessment towards crack abuse side effects in order to provide a perspective of the current situation for authorities in the area of addiction and to take a step forward in decreasing the tendency of the Iranian young population towards this internecine disaster.

Materials & Methods
The present descriptive and analytical research Knowledge, attitude, and performance towards crack abuse side effects according to the students' gender and the research population (n = 906) consisted of all the students from different faculties of Islamic Azad University, Islamshahr Branch and were selected using the stratified sampling method and were allocated to respective groups according to gender. The data collection tool was a questionnaire. The research data were analyzed using the t-test, and also Chi-square and ANOVA tests and the Pearson correlation coefficient.

Result
Result of the subjects, who were 18-35 years old; 40.2% were female and 542 were male. The results obtained revealed that towards crack abuse side effects at three levels, namely their knowledge, attitude, and performance were lower than 50%; such that 58.2% had a low-level knowledge , 55.5% had a negative attitude, and 49% of them had an unfavorable performance level. 33.1, 33.9, 11.5, 10.7, and 10.5 percent of the subjects were selected from the Humanities & Management faculty, the Engineering faculty, the Basic Sciences faculty, the Physical Education faculty, and the Art faculty.

Data related to the measurement of the students 'knowledge , attitude, and performance' regarding the short-term and long-term crack abuse side effects are shown in Tables 1, 2, and 3. The results obtained revealed that students' needs assessment towards crack abuse side effects at three levels, namely their knowledge, attitude, and performance were lower than 50%; such that 58.2% had a low-level knowledge , 55.5% had a negative attitude, and 49% of them had an unfavorable performance level.

Table 1: comparison of Mean and standard deviation students' knowledge, attitude, and performance towards crack abuse side effects in Islamic Azad University; Islamshahr Branch according to Sex


Table 2: comparison of Mean and standard deviation students' knowledge ,attitude, and performance towards crack abuse side effects in Islamic Azad University; Islamshahr Branch according to kind of faculty



Table 3: comparison of Mean and standard deviation students' knowledge, attitude , and performance towards crack abuse side effects in Islamic Azad University; Islamshahr Branch according to Age


The findings related to the comparison of the mean male and female students' awareness, attitude, and function regarding crack abuse side effects revealed a statistically significant correlation at the areas of attitude and function, such that a statistically significant correlation was not observed between gender and awareness regarding crack abuse side effects (mean awareness among females and males was 39.9 and 38.19, respectively); but a statistically significant correlation was observed between gender and attitude (mean attitude among females and males was 71.10 and 68.97, respectively) and also between gender and function (mean function among females and males was 78.5 and 73.9, respectively), i.e. attitude and function was higher among females. Accordingly, the findings of Torabi, Mohammad revealed a statistically significant correlation between gender and smoking (4), and the results of research performed by Zia-Eddini showed that 26.5% of the males and 11.5% of the females had a positive history of substance abuse on at least one occasion, which were consistent with the results of our study (5).

The findings regarding needs assessment towards crack abuse side effects and the pertinent faculty revealed a statistically significant correlation at the areas of attitude and function, such that the students of the Engineering faculty and the Physical Education faculty had the least and the most awareness levels (means = 36.67 and 40.05, respectively); in addition, the students of the Engineering faculty and the Humanities faculty had the least and the most attitude levels (means = 67.18 and 73.38, respectively); also, the students of the Engineering faculty and the Humanities faculty had the least and the most function levels (means = 80.88 and 67.9, respectively.

The variance analysis test showed a statistically significant correlation between age and function, and the highest needs assessment regarding awareness was observed among students under 20 years old (mean = 41.8), and the highest attitude revealed a mean of 80.5, although the highest performance was observed among the students over 30 years old. The results of research performed by Shafigh, Madjid revealed that male gender is considered a risk factor for substance abuse among the medical students in Pakistan (6).
In addition, the 26-28 year old and the 20-22 year old subjects had the best and the worst function levels (means = 84.7 and 73.84, respectively); students under 20 years of age revealed the lowest attitude level (mean = 71.52). The results of research performed by Kumar revealed that substance abuse (especially in combination form) has increased among the medical students, especially among the male students, and that the long duration of education affects substance abuse (7).

Conclusion
The results of the present research regarding students' needs assessment towards short-term and long-term crack abuse side effects revealed that short-term awareness trends toward low-level as compared to long-term awareness; students' long-term attitude towards crack abuse side effects trends towards negative. Generally, students' needs assessment towards short-term and long-term crack abuse side effects was at the high level, but rendering needs assessment towards short-term crack abuse side effects had a higher priority, i.e. their needs assessment is primarily based on short-term; in addition, students' needs assessment regarding long-term function trend towards unfavorable.

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