Concept generation of cognitive enhancement: healthcare professionals' approach towards the impact and utilization of cognitive enhancers in academic context

Sadia Shakeel; Wajiha Iffat; Ambreen Qamar; Fareeha Butt; Faiza Ghuman; Imran Ahsan Mallick; Anees Ur Rehman; Shazia Jamshed

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08118

Concept generation of cognitive enhancement: healthcare professionals' approach towards the impact and utilization of cognitive enhancers in academic context

Heliyon. 2021 Oct 4;7(10):e08118. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08118. eCollection 2021 Oct.

Authors

Sadia Shakeel¹, Wajiha Iffat², Ambreen Qamar³, Fareeha Butt⁴, Faiza Ghuman⁵, Imran Ahsan Mallick¹, Anees Ur Rehman⁶, Shazia Jamshed⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dow College of Pharmacy, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
² Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dow College of Pharmacy, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
³ Department of Physiology, Dr. Ishrat Ul Ebad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences (DIKIOHS), Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Physiology, Dow Medical College, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
⁵ Department of Medicine, Dow University Hospital, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
⁶ Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Multan, Pakistan.
⁷ Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, UniSZA, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia.

Abstract

Cognitive enhancers (CEs) encompass a wide range of drugs, including prescription medications for attention deficit disorders and pharmacological compounds for cognitive enhancement. It is well-documented that the students are the leading cohort of CEs users. Exploring how healthcare professionals perceive the use of CEs for academic accomplishments is significant to understand their encouragement of CE use. Hence, the purpose of the current study was to look at healthcare professionals' attitudes and perceived understanding about the usage of CEs in academic contexts. The study was a quantitative cross-sectional research design conducted in different healthcare and academic settings of Karachi. The respondents were approached either through social media platforms or the official email addresses of their working organizations. Data were collected through a web link of an online questionnaire that included four sections; inquiring about the respondents' demographics characteristics, their knowledge about CEs, their attitudes towards the use and impact of CEs, and their inclination to use a hypothetical prescription-only CE. The response rate of the study was 73.3%. The majority of the respondents negated to permit university students to using CEs for cognitive boost (n = 360, 67.1%), to concentrate (n = 406, 75.7%), to increase vigilance (n = 394, 73.5%) or to mitigate the effects of other medicines (n = 312, 58.2%). The pharmacists were more likely to refute that using CEs by the students is safe (pharmacists 10.8% vs. physicians 8.3%, p=<0.001), beneficial (pharmacists 12.7% vs. physicians 5.3%, p=<0.001), or necessary (pharmacists 17.6% vs. physicians 12.8%, p=<0.001). The major reasons for not encouraging the use of CEs were fear of misuse (n = 510, 95.1%), safety concerns (n = 495, 92.3%), and their consideration for CE as unnecessary medical intervention (n = 441, 82.2%). The findings indicated that overall, respondents have a clear consensus of not letting university students use CEs for cognitive improvement or any other purpose implying that cognitive enhancement is not yet a common or approved medical practice by the healthcare professionals in Pakistan.

Keywords: Brain function augmentation; Cognitive enhancers; Healthcare professionals; Neuroenhancement; Pakistan.