The Influence of Social Media and Psychosocial Factors on the Intention to Use E-cigarettes among Nursing Students of Praboromarajchanok Institute
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Abstract
Abstract
This predictive study aimed to examine the influence of social media factors (media exposure and engagement with e-cigarette content on social media) and psychosocial factors (attitudes toward
e-cigarette use, subjective norms, and perceived ability to control behaviours) on the intention of the nursing students to use e-cigarettes. The sample of 157 students, selected by multistage random sampling. Data were collected using online questionnaires comprising of (1) the social media factors scale, yielding an overall reliability coefficient of .89, broken down into media exposure .90 and participation .92; (2) attitude towards e-cigarette use scale; (3); subjective norms; (4) perceived ability to control behaviours; and (5) intention to use e-cigarettes, yielding reliability coefficients of .69, .87, .84 and .83, respectively. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and enter multiple regression analysis.
The results showed that the majority of the sample were female (84.07%), with an average age of 20.52 years and had a low intention to use e-cigarettes (Mean 1.26, SD .58). All combining factors could explain 69.30% of the intention to use e-cigarettes (R² .693, p < .001). The statistically significant predictors were subjective norms (β .610, p < .001) and attitudes toward e-cigarette use (β .281, p < .001). These findings indicate that subjective norms and attitudes are significant factors determining the intention to use e-cigarettes among the nursing students. Therefore, the educational institutions should promote attitudes and establish social norms that discourage e-cigarette use through classroom instruction and extracurricular activities in order to maintain the nursing profession's identity as a health role model.
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