Currently submitted to: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Aug 5, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Aug 6, 2026 - Oct 1, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Integrating Self-Reported and Objective Measures to Assess Psychoactive Substance Use and Neuroenhancer Consumption Among Medical Students: The NO PANIC Study Protocol
ABSTRACT
Psychoactive substance use among university students represents an increasing public health concern, particularly in high-pressure academic environments such as medical school. Although previous research has investigated substance use using either self-reported data or biological measures, studies integrating these complementary approaches remain limited. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of psychoactive substance use and neuroenhancer consumption among medical students during examination periods, characterize patterns and motivations of use, and assess the agreement between self-reported data and objective biological measurements. Expected The integration of biological and self-reported measures is expected to improve prevalence estimates and identify discrepancies related to underreporting and different detection windows. Partial agreement between self-reported and biologically measured substance use is anticipated, potentially reflecting underreporting and misclassification in self-reported data. By integrating subjective and objective measures, this study is expected to provide a comprehensive assessment of psychoactive substance use among medical students. The findings may improve the accuracy of prevalence estimates and contribute to the development of targeted prevention strategies and institutional policies within academic settings.
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