Nursing Students’ Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding Medical Marijuana: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

Laura Pereira, María Jesús Núñez-Iglesias, Eva María Domínguez-Martís, David López-Ares, Mercedes González-Peteiro and Silvia Novío
Additional contact information
Laura Pereira: Galician Public Health Care Service, Lugar Bouza 6, 36164 A Coruña, Spain
María Jesús Núñez-Iglesias: School of Nursing, University of Santiago de Compostela, Av. Xoán XXIII, s/n, 15782 Coruña, Spain
Eva María Domínguez-Martís: Galician Public Health Care Service, Health Care Centre of Concepción Arenal, C/ Santiago León de Caracas 12, 15701 A Coruña, Spain
David López-Ares: Galician Public Health Care Service, University Hospital Complex of A Coruña (CHUAC), C/ Xubias de Arriba, 84, 15006 A Coruña, Spain
Mercedes González-Peteiro: School of Nursing, University of Santiago de Compostela, Av. Xoán XXIII, s/n, 15782 Coruña, Spain
Silvia Novío: School of Nursing, University of Santiago de Compostela, Av. Xoán XXIII, s/n, 15782 Coruña, Spain

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 7, 1-13

Abstract: Marijuana use for medical purposes dates back to ancient times. Despite its high therapeutic potential, its adverse effects have raised important legal restrictions. However, this situation in Spain may soon undergo significant changes, without anyone so far having studied the knowledge and/or the level of acceptance of medical marijuana by future healthcare professionals. The aim of the present study was to determine nursing students’ knowledge of and attitudes towards medical marijuana. A cross-sectional design was used. A total of 578 nursing students from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), ≥18 years old and of both sexes, were invited to complete the Spanish version of the questionnaire “Medical Marijuana” between January and May 2019. A total of 364 students decided to participate in the study. More than 75% of the students agreed with the legalization of medical marijuana, although their knowledge and confidence levels regarding efficacy, safety and drug interactions of medical marijuana were low. Nursing students showed a clear lack of knowledge about medical marijuana and thus, in light of possible regulatory changes, it would be necessary to strengthen the training of nurses with respect to medical marijuana in order to make responsible use of it.

Keywords: attitude; knowledge; medical marijuana; nursing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/7/2492/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/7/2492/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:7:p:2492-:d:341858

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().