School Teachers’ Awareness on Early Recognition and Prevention of Teen Substance Abuse at School

A descriptive study was undertaken with an aim to assess the school teachers’ awareness regarding early recognition and prevention of teen substance abuse at school. School teachers (n=120) were randomly selected from different secondary schools in Kothamangalam area of Ernakulam District, Kerala state. A researcher made and content validated structured awareness questionnaire was used for data collection. Majority (47.5%) of the participants were aged between 31to 40 years and females (77.50%). Seven teachers reported that they use substances. Eighteen teachers (14.03%) reported that they dealt with teenagers having substance abuse before. Study revealed that the teachers are aware about the teen substance abuse in general. However, the awareness related to substance-specific symptoms and complications are still lacking a lot among them. School based prevention strategies are also not known much to the teachers in schools. It warrants immediate remedial measures in terms of more substance-specific preventive training programs for teachers at school.