A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Structured Teaching Programme on Knowledge Regarding Substance Abuse and Its Impact on Health among Higher Secondary Students among Atulya Healthcare, Pune

Healthcare professionals are crucial in the identification and accessibility to treatment for people with substance abuse. The objective of the study was to assess students’ knowledge towards substance use disorders and examine the consequences of these on health.¹ Substance abuse is a social problem, not in India alone, but the entire world. The use of drugs has its own culture and history, which varies from country to country. The problem of substance abuse is growing at an explosive rate and in just little over a decade it has spread its malevolent tentacles to almost every part of the globe surmounting almost all barriers of race, caste, creed, religion, sex educational status, economic strata etc. As the first experience of substance abuse often starts in adolescence, and studies have shown that drug use is mainly related to cigarette and alcohol consumption, an initial exploration of substance abuse prevalence, including cigarette and alcohol, seems to be the first step in preventing and controlling drug consumption.³