The Study of Adults’ Knowledge and Attitude Towards Waterpipe Tobacco Smoking in the City of Kerman in 2017: A Descriptive Study

Today, lack of knowledge and misconceptions are the most important reasons for an increasing trend toward waterpipe tobacco smoking (WTS) worldwide. The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge and attitude of adults of city of Kerman towards WTS.

This descriptive study was performed on 1090 adults selected by multi-stage random sampling in the city of Kerman in 2017. A researcher-made questionnaire including demographic information, questions about knowledge and attitude towards WTS and a question about the current use of WTS was used. Data were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, chi-square test, independent t-test and multiple linear regression.

The mean and standard deviation scores of knowledge and attitude of subjects were 8.29±1.84 and 28.58±7.20, respectively. There was observed a significant negative correlation between knowledge and attitude score (r= -0.49; p<0.001). The knowledge of current waterpipe users was significantly less than noncurrent waterpipe users (p<0.001) and the attitude of current waterpipe users was significantly more positive than those noncurrent waterpipe users (p<0.001). People with higher age (p<0.001), women (p<0.001), married (p=0.016) and those with university education (p=0.003) had significantly more knowledge.

Considering the inappropriate knowledge and attitude of adults towards WTS, interventions to increase knowledge and change attitude, especially in people at risk should be designed and implemented
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