Abstract

In Turkey, the prevalence of tobacco consumption as narghile (water-pipe) smoking has significantly increased especially among young people recently. However narghile smoking has an addictive impact and negative health consequences. In this study, it was aimed to determine the factors influencing narghile smoking, and to evaluate knowledge, attitude and behaviors on narghile smoking. The data were collected by the senior medical students of Hacettepe University, through face-to-face interview. A total of 273 individuals (age: 14-44) were interviewed at the cafes in Ankara city center serving narghile. More than half of the participants were between 18-24 years of age (54.6%), and the mean age of the study group was 23 years. The participants mostly started to smoke narghile during the last two years (67.9%). Curiosity (60.4%), and peer influence (34.1%) were the main factors influencing narghile smoking. Nearly half (54.6%) of the participants were aware of the health hazards of narghile smoking, while 18.3% did not have any information on this issue. Of the participants, 53.5% thought that narghile smoking had no addictive impact, while 89.0% had no intent to quit narghile smoking. 27.9% çeflitof the study group were non-cigarette smokers. It was determined that young people who smoked narghile had no adequate knowledge about health hazards of narghile smoking. To prevent the spreading of narghile smoking, young people should be informed about the health hazards of this habit.