Academic interest in the therapeutic use of cannabis in nursing students from a private university in Chile

Abstract

Introduction: Cannabis therapeutic use is increasingly prominent. Objective: Identify the academic interest related to the therapeutic use of cannabis (UTC) in nursing students from a private university in Chile. Methods: A descriptive, exploratory study was carried out, with a qualitative approach, from Gadamer's hermeneutic paradigm. The non-probabilistic sample of cases by criteria was made up of 20 key informants from the 3rd and 4th year of the Nursing major, including students enrolled in the school year. Data collection was through the formation of two focus groups in 2018. Data reduction was manual, data transcription was performed using the Jefferson formula, and rigorous and ethical criteria were met. Results:Three categories emerged: academic node, disciplinary roles, and ethical-legal considerations. The students acknowledge linking the therapeutic use of cannabis to their curriculum, displaying relationships between it and its environment in the disciplinary functions related to the care role in care management, the educational role, visualize it towards the community and consider a lack of research in the eld. area, bioethics and legal aspects are mentioned for the third category. Conclusions: There is academic interest in incorporating the UTC within university education, recognizing the assistance action, the educational role and the relationship with strategies and interventions towards the population; a lack of research development is also observed and administrative management is not mentioned. In addition, bioethics and legal aspects need to be involved in training regarding UTC.

Keywords

• cannabinoids
• cannabis
• pain
• nervous system diseases