Experience of Tobacco use and effects among econdary level female students in Kirtipur municipality

Abstract

Tobacco is a significant global public health concern, causing an annual death to nearly eight million individuals. Nepal's South-Asian region has the highest smoking prevalence among adult females, leading to risky behaviors like smoking, alcohol use, and substance abuse among young women. The study aims to explore the experience of tobacco use and its effects among female smoker students in Kirtipur municipality, Kathmandu. This study followed a descriptive qualitative research design where the participants (female students of secondary level in Kirtipur municipality) provided their informational experience about the issue. Six participants were selected since this research was designed to conclude the research problem based on qualitative data and the research participants also belonged to the vulnerable group. Kirtipur municipality was selected for the study and data collection tools and techniques I used semi-structured interview guidelines for information collection. The tools were developed based on previous literature and research reports. It was found that the main reasons for female students to smoke cigarettes in secondary school were: addiction to cigarettes because of the company of their friends, missing a love relationship, feeling lonely, and being influenced by watching movies. Although the number of smoking cigarettes in Nepal has decreased compared to the world, the number of women and men who smoke cigarettes in Nepal is increasing, while teenage girls who study in secondary school are also found to be addicted to smoking cigarettes. Being in the company of friends of the highest age group, smoking cigarettes relieves mental stress due to the attraction of various advertisements, looking at the appearance of others as a fashion, and as a support for loneliness, females were also found to be attracted to smoking cigarettes. If in school not only books on smoking and drinking alcohol but also dramatizations and sometimes street drams to spread public awareness about the effects of tobacco consumption and to increase the legal process to ban advertisements that attract such people, schools and community wards offices should be also cooperate and coordinate in conducting awareness programs about the effects of tobacco consumption in female adolescents.