Effectiveness of STP on Knowledge Regarding Substance Abuse among Adolescents

Abstract

Substance abuse is harmful not only to the individual but also to family and society at large scale. Substance abuse is one of the serious problems affecting youth in the world. The increasing problem of substance abuse and dependence has drawn both public and scientific attention to be focused. According to world health organization and the American Psychiatric Association, drug abuse is the illicit consumption of naturally occurring or pharmaceutical substances for the purpose of changing the way in which a person feels, think or behaves, without understanding or taking into consideration the damaging, physical and mental side effects that are caused. A study to assess the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on knowledge regarding substance abuse among adolescents in selected nursing schools, Bangalore. An evaluative approach and quasi-experimental design that is one group pre-test and post-test design, Pender’s Health Promotional Model was adopted for the study. A total number of 60 adolescents were selected by non-probability convenience sampling technique. Structured knowledge questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge in pre-test which is followed by implementation of structured teaching programme. The post-test was conducted after 7 days using the same structured knowledge questionnaire to find out the effectiveness of STP. The results were described by using descriptive and inferential statistics. The result showed that the average pre-test score of 9.16±2.54 but after administration of STP, the result showed the average post-test score of 21.11±3.41. STP was found to be effective in improving the knowledge of nursing students regarding substance abuse with paired t value of 48.79 which is above the table value of 2.6 at P=0.05 level of significant. Thus, the study concluded that STP was significantly effective in improving the knowledge of the adolescents regarding substance abuse and ways to prevent it which in turn contribute to improve their lifestyle, well-being, education and good citizens.