Health Awareness Programme on Knowledge Regarding Substance Abuse and its Consequences among Adolescents

Abstract

Aim: Substance abuse among adolescents has become a global challenge and an important public health concern. Aims include to assess and compare the knowledge score on substance abuse and its consequences among the adolescents before and after administration of health awareness programme.

Materials and Methods: A pre-experimental study with single group pre-test and post-test research design with quantitative approach was undertaken on 50 adolescents selected by convenient sampling technique in Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, Bhubaneswar. Data were collected through self-structured questionnaire.

Results: About 64% were in the age group of 17–19 years. 90% were Hindu. 52% of the father of adolescents had primary education and 54% of mothers were illiterate. 66% of the adolescents were from nuclear family. 88% were from rural area, 40% were having a history of substance abuse in the family, and 64% of them were having information about substance abuse through friends and relatives. The level of knowledge of the adolescents during pre-test was 72% inadequate knowledge. During post-test, 66% had adequate knowledge regarding substance abuse. Area wise post-test highest mean score (3.68 ± 0.47) which is 92% of maximum scores was obtained from the area “cannabis and its consequences and prevention.” The highest difference in mean percentage was 39.8%. Highly significant difference was found between pre- and post-test knowledge scores at P ≤ 0.01, health awareness programme on substance abuse was found to be effective.

Conclusion: Adolescence is the period of storm and stress. Health awareness programme is an effective method to gain knowledge and develop favorable attitude toward the prevention of substance abuse among adolescents.