Nursing seniors study U. smoking

Found that 41 percent polled were smokers Nursing seniors Mary Ann Couch, Judy Levy and Kate Watson wanted their senior nursing project to "make a difference." Along with other students in their leadership class, the three girls decided to attack the already high and rising rate of smoking on the University's campus. Their survey found that of the students they polled, 41 percent were smokers of some sort. And of those smokers, 96 percent said they thought it was unhealthy and 66.5 percent planned to quit smoking after graduation. Levy said the three first became interested in the subject upon reading an article published in the Pennsylvania Gazette, which discussed the issue of high smoking rates on college campuses. "The rate here is very high -- almost half of the student population," Watson added. "[That's strange,] especially since this is an Ivy League school." The group drew up a survey asking students about their smoking habits at the University, as compared to their previous smoking habits. The survey also gathered students' opinions toward smoking and touched upon overall factors in the decision to smoke. According to Levy, 678 of the 1,000 distributed surveys were returned. Results indicated that 17 percent of Penn students smoke daily. Fewer than 10 percent smoke every few days and even fewer smoke every few weeks or every few months. "Still, the total of 41 percent is really disturbing," Levy said. Watson added that students in general were knowledgeable about smoking risks. "They knew it was bad, they knew the health risks [and] they all wanted to quit," she said. The survey showed emotional and academic stress to be major factors in the decision to smoke. It also indicated effect on others as a concern. According to Levy, the group has tried to distribute their findings to various groups on campus in order to alert them to the problem. "We have put it up on e-mail, sent letters to administrators and student groups," she said. "We don't want this work to go to waste." Watson said the group feels this information to be important because it is directed specifically at the University and is not a generalization of college campuses. "Penn students are aware of the health issues concerned here," she said. "Now we know it is going to take a different way of prevention than simple health education to help here." Couch said she feels a major concern is the fact that students are "ignoring the fact that smoking is addictive." "They seem to have the 'I'm a Penn student and nothing can hurt me' attitude," she said.