Effect of Structured Teaching Programme on Knowledge Regarding Substance Abuse among Adolescents

Substance abuse usually begins in adolescence, the time for discovery, challenge and experimentation. They are especially vulnerable to drug abuse and form the majority of drug users worldwide. In India, it is estimated that most of the drug users are in the age group of 16–35 years and majority of them are in the age group of 18–25 years.

True experimental pretest – posttest control group research design was adopted. The study population comprised of all adolescents studying in higher secondary section of government higher secondary schools in Puducherry. Samples were selected by simple random sampling technique. The sample comprised of 160 adolescents studying in eleventh standard of selected higher secondary schools in Puducherry, 80 each in experimental and control group. A pretest was conducted by using a structured questionnaire to assess the level of knowledge regarding substance abuse among the study subjects. Followed by this, a structured teaching programme on substance abuse was administered to the subjects in the experimental group in three sessions, on consecutive days. Each session had the duration of 30 minutes. A posttest was conducted after 2 weeks for both the groups with the same questionnaire and effectiveness of the teaching programme on the level of knowledge on substance abuse was assessed.

There was a highly significant difference (p < 0.001) in the knowledge level of adolescents regarding substance abuse between the experimental and control group after the administration of structured teaching programme.

The majority of the study subjects had a poor level of knowledge regarding substance abuse. The structured teaching programme is an effective method to increase the knowledge regarding substance abuse among the adolescents.