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Prevalence of Vaping Among Semester 4 Mechanical Engineering Undergraduates of Universiti Teknologi Mara (Uitm) Shah Alam
Prevalence of Vaping Among Semester 4 Mechanical Engineering Undergraduates of Universiti Teknologi Mara (Uitm) Shah Alam
Prepared for
Prepared by
15 June 2017
TERMS OF REFERENCE
On 16th of March 2017, the English for Report Writing lecturer (EWC661), Dr. Elia Md.
Johar instructed Mohamad Fadzli Shafaryn Bin Mohd Fauzi, Yus Hafizi Bin Mat Hassan,
Amirul Aiman Bin Che Arifin and Mohd Azim Bin Mohd Zahari to conduct a study and
write a report on the “Prevalence of Vaping among Semester 4 Mechanical Engineering
Undergraduates of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Selangor.”. This report was
submitted on 15th of June 2017.
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ABSTRACT
The aims of the study were to determine the frequency of vaping among Semester 4
Mechanical Engineering undergraduates of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Selangor,
identify reasons why they vaped and find out the ease of accessibility to vape gear, or
materials. Hence, thirty respondents from the Mechanical Engineering Faculty were chosen
randomly to assist in this survey. This study employed descriptive analysis and presented
results in frequency and percentage. It was found that the majority of the respondents chose
to vape after every meal. The study also found that most of them vaped because of their high
stress levels. It can be concluded that the respondents vaped without any restrictions but at
their convenience due to stress. These have proven that vaping becomes widespread among
the Semester 4 undergraduates as the environment allows them to do so and thus, warranting
an immediate enforcement of banning vape within campus confined areas by university
authorities.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to express our deepest appreciation to all those who contributed to the
completion of this report. A special gratitude goes to our lecturer, Dr. Elia Md. Johar who
contributed in stimulating suggestions and encouragement, helping us to coordinate this task
well especially in writing this report.
We would also like to convey our deep appreciation to all respondents for their
cooperation in answering the questionnaire. Lastly, a special thanks to our family for their
moral and financial supports during preparation of this report. These commitments enabled us
to succeed in completing this report on time. Thank you.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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LIST OF FIGURES
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1.0 INTRODUCTION
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1.2 Problem Statement
Approximately, there are 1.1 thousand million smokers in the world which form one-
third of the global population whose ages range 15 and over (World Health
Organisation, 2017). Davendralingam and Erwin (2015) reported that there were
between 250,000 and 1 million cigarettes or vape users in Malaysia, backed up by the
2015 National Morbidity Survey (NHMS) reporting that “the prevalence of the
current use of smokeless tobacco products which includes e-cigarettes has increased
tremendously from 1.9% in 2011 to 10.9% in 2015” (IPH, 2016, p.15). This shows
that vaping has become a widespread epidemic and an always-seen habit among
Malaysians. Its sharp, continuous rise in sales also conveys how extreme vaping has
spread in the local community. Even though the Higher Education Ministry has
imposed a vape ban within the confines of 20 public universities campuses in
November 22, 2015 (Vape ban in all public universities, 2015), vapers can still find
alternative venues to vape. Thus, it is not surprising that university students can also
contribute to the increasing number of vape smokers in the country.
Like cigarette smoking, traditionally, most vapers often believe that helps
reduce stress and anxiety. Indeed, it is not. Claiming to represent the biggest vaping
community online, Vaping Daily.com in its article ‘Stress and tobacco use – Reasons
to not use tobacco to deal with stress.’ views this as misleading. It addresses this
misconception clearly by explaining through smokers’ experience wherein smokers
report that they feel a reduction in stress once nicotine enters the bloodstream, and
thereby the brain (Stress and tobacco use, 2017). They associate the reduction of
stress with smoking. In fact, the temporary reduction in stressful feelings is the brain’s
craving for nicotine being satisfied. Hence, smoking itself triggers stress as the brain
craves for nicotine. As cravings begin, the stress level rises. When smokers start
smoking again, the stress level falls as the brain receives its dose of nicotine. They get
the false impression that smoking reduces stress levels, where in fact, nicotine is the
primary contributor to stress. Similarly, e-cigarettes are not harmless. They also have
the same impact as most of them contain nicotine hidden in different solvents and
flavourings (Potenza, 2017). Therefore, e-cigarettes are not harmless as claimed due
to the influence of nicotine.
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Evidently, the current vaping scenario will continue to exist as there is little
known on vaping health effects. Hence, the study is significant to unleash some basic
information on vaping among Mechanical Engineering undergraduates.
This study would benefit the Ministry of Higher Education, management of the
Mechanical Engineering Faculty and UiTM university students in general. The
findings provided some insights into vaping issues in UiTM and highlighted dark
areas that would warrant immediate actions from relevant authorities especially the
Ministry of Higher Education. These would enable the Ministry to find ways to
overcome vaping problems among university students before it becomes phenomenal.
Besides that, the faculty can also address the well-being of its students by conducting
campaigns on the dangers of vaping and smoking as well because prevention is better
than cure. They can conduct also further investigation into this issue to determine
whether vaping can lead to addiction which might affect students’ academic
performance. Finally, this study would help create awareness among UiTM students
them on the intensity of vaping practices among them.
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population of UiTM. The duration of this study was 14 weeks, starting from March
2017 until June 2017 which had limited the scope of the study in terms of variables
involved.
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2.0 METHODOLOGY
There were thirty respondents, both males and females, selected randomly to be the
sample in this survey. The respondents were UiTM Selangor Semester 4
undergraduate students of the Mechanical Engineering Faculty. They ranged between
18 years old and above.
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questionnaires. The time given for the respondents to answer the questionnaire was
about 5 to 7 minutes.
This study used descriptive analysis in analysing the data. The analysed data were
converted from frequency count into percentages and presented in charts using
Google Drive applications.
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3.0 FINDINGS
Figure 3.1 shows frequency of vaping among the respondents in a day. The frequency
of vaping per day was measured by different times of the day.
Fifteen students or, half of the respondents indicated they vaped after every meal, 12
students vaped after their class hours while 14 students indicated no specified time.
The results show that the respondents vaped at a time convenient to them which was
not openly made to the public.
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Figure 3.2 below represents popular places for vaping. The most popular responses
for vaping favourite spots were hostels and outside the campus with 33% and 32%
respectively. The remaining (4%) chose to vape in their vehicles. This finding,
however, came as a surprise because hostels have been designated to be prohibited
areas for vaping (Vape ban in all public universities, 2017).
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3.3 Reasons for Vaping
Figure 3.3 exhibits the listing of eight reasons for vaping, ranging from stress to friends’
influence.
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
Percentage
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Stress recorded the highest percentage in the list with 66.7 % whereas smoking cessation was
the lowest with 23.3%. This indicated that stress was the main reason for students to vape and
smoking cessation was of no significant concern. However, this finding differs from other
similar studies. According to Ayers, Leas, Allem, Benton, Dredze, Althouse, Cruz, and Unger
(2017), in 2012, the most common reason cited for vaping was to quit smoking regular
cigarettes whereas in 2015, social image topped as the most common reason cited and
smoking cessation was second. This difference suggests that there is a misconception among
the respondents thinking that only through vaping they could reduce stress and smoking
cessation was not justified at all to be the primary reason for them to turn from tobacco
smoking to e-cigarettes.
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3.4 Methods of Purchasing Vape Materials
Figure 3.5 below illustrates the listing of accessibility to vape gear, or materials. There are
only three methods studied, namely, vape outlets, online and others.
Methods of Purchasing Vape Materials
Materialse
Number of Respondents
Based on the above figure, 26 respondents (86.7%) purchased vape gear, or materials at vape
outlets. Meanwhile, only 11 respondents (36.7%) bought them online. This indicated that
patronizing vape outlets was far more convenient for them to purchase vape materials than
making online purchase. Going to the outlets might allow them to test the available flavours
and make enquiries directly or even they could get immediate feedback. Some did online
purchase as they could possibly save their time going out unnecessarily. This finding concurs
with the study done by the Institute of Public Health, Malaysia (2016) wherein adolescent
vape users often obtained vape gears, or materials from vape shops or kiosk. This suggests
that the widespread of vaping among the respondents might due to easy access to vape gears,
or materials.
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4.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
4.1 Conclusions
Based on the findings and discussions, it can be concluded that the majority of respondents
vaped at their hostels although they were prohibited to do so. With respect to frequency of
vaping, the most common time they vaped was after each meal. These show the respondents
could vape conveniently without any restrictions.
Next, stress was the most cited reason for vaping among the respondents. This can be
observed throughout their academic years as they have to meet high expectations both from
their parents and universities where they study. Hence, this could possibly cause vaping
practices prevail among the respondents.
Finally, purchasing vape materials such as devices and flavours directly from at vape outlets
has been a common practice among the respondents. The ease of accessibilty to vape
materials could trigger more students to take up vaping as an alternative to expensive tobacco
smoking.
4.2 Recommendations
a) the Mechanical Engineering Faculty carry out checks on its students who vape at the
faculty after day meals,
b) the UiTM top management implement a full enforcement on the restricted areas of
vaping, and
c) vape outlets not to sell nicotine-based flavours so that students do not conceive vaping
practices as their way out to stress when they vape.
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REFERENCES
Ayers, J.W. , Leas, E.C. Allem, J. , Benton, A., Dredze, M. ,Althouse, B.M., Cruz, T.B. and
Unger, J.B. (2017). Why do people use electronic nicotine delivery systems (electronic
cigarettes)? A content analysis of Twitter, 2012-2015. PLoS ONE 12(3). Retrieved
from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0170702
Davendralingam, S., and Erwin, K.J. (2015). E-cigarettes: Facts and legal status,
International e-Journal of Science, Medicine & Education (IeJSME), 9(3),10-19.
Retrieved from web.imu.edu.my/imuejournal/.../IeJSME201593-
3.Review_Davendralingam.pdf
Institue of Public Health (2016). Tobacco & e-cigarette survey among Malaysian adolescents
(TECMA). Retrieved from http://www.iku.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/
TECMA2016/TabaccoandECigarette.pdf
Miller, S. (2017, March 1).Why do people vape? Reasons have changed. LIVESCIENCE.
Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/58071-why-people-vape.html
Potenza, A. (2017, February 1). Vaping might increase your risk of heart disease, just like
regular cigarettes. The Verge. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/
2017/2/1/14460996/e-cig-vaping-risk-heart-disease-health-jama-study
Saddleson, M.L., Kozlowski, L.T., Giovino, G.A., Goniewicz, M.L., Mahoney, M.C. ,
Homish, G.G. and Arora, A. (2017). Enjoyment and other reasons for electronic
cigarette use: Results from college students in New York. Addictive Behaviour, 54, 3-39.
Retrieved from www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306460315300630
Vape ban in all public universities. (2017, November 22). The Star Online. Retrieved from
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2015/11/22/vape-ban-at-public-universities/
Vaping Daily (2017). Stress and tobacco use – Reasons to not use tobacco to deal with stress.
Retrieved from https://vapingdaily.com/quitting-effects/stress-and-tobacco-use/
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APPENDIX 1: SAMPLE OF QUESTIONNAIRE
Dear respondents,
1. Gender
Male Female
3. Marital status
Single
Married
1. How frequent do you vape per day? (You may tick more than one option.)
4. Where do you often vape? (You may tick more than one option.)
Hostel
Food court
Street
Bus stop
On the transport
Outside campus area
Others (Please specify: ____________________)
Section 3: Reasons for Vaping
Stress
Overload assignments
Trendy
Quit cigarette smoking
Vape’s nice smell
Low cost
Easy access
Friends’ influence
Others (Please specify: ____________________________________)
Thank You