Level of Knowledge on Hazards of Substance Abuse Among Adolescents

Abstract

The present study aimed to assess the level of knowledge on hazards of substance abuse among adolescents of selected urban and rural schools of Calicut and Malappuram districts. Objectives were to identify the level of knowledge on hazards of substance abuse among adolescents of selected urban and rural schools of Calicut and Malappuram districts, find out the association between knowledge on hazards of substance abuse among adolescents of selected urban and rural schools of Calicut and Malappuram district and selected demographic variables. This study was based on Pender’s health promotion model. Non-experimental approach with a descriptive survey design was adopted. A structured questionnaire was used to assess the level of knowledge on the hazards of substance abuse among adolescents. The content validity of the tool was ensured and the reliability of the tool was tested. The study was carried out in Urban and Rural schools of Calicut (Govt HSS Beypore and Govt. Ganapath Higher Secondary Schools, Chalappuram) and Malappuram (SMM and Govt, Regional Fisheries Higher Secondary Schools) districts. Adolescents were selected by using a stratified random sampling technique and the sample size was 300. After obtaining formal permission from the authority concerned structured questionnaire was used to collect the needed data. The result shows that an equal proportion of 0.7 % of adolescents had an inadequate level of knowledge in urban and rural schools. Most of the participants had a moderate level of knowledge (urban – 51.3 % and rural – 58.7 %) in both urban and rural schools, the remaining 48 % of urban and 40.6 % of rural school adolescents had inadequate knowledge regarding hazards of substance abuse. There was a significant association between the level of knowledge and selected demographic variables such as age and occupation of parents among adolescents in urban schools. Adolescents in rural schools show a significant association between the level of knowledge and standard, religion, and occupation of the parents. This suggests accepting the re-searchable hypothesis H1.