Effectiveness of Organized Teaching Program on Awareness Regarding Substance Abuse Among Students

Background: Substance use among college students is associated with numerous negative outcomes including lower academic performance, a higher probability of un-employment after graduation, and increased risk of committing and experiencing sexual assault 6 .Worldwide, more than a quarter of all people aged 15-19 years are current drinkers, amounting to 155 million adolescents aged 15-19 years was 13.6% in 2016, with males most at risk . Objective: Evaluate the effectiveness of organized teaching programme on awareness regarding substance abuse among students in selected colleges. Methodology: A pre-experimental study was conducted among adolescents in selected colleges, Kochi. Sixty samples were selected by convenient sampling technique. Tools were prepared to collect sociodemographic proforma and a semi-structured questionnaire was prepared to evaluate the awareness on substance abuse. Result: the study revealed that out of 60 samples 36 respondents (60%) have average awareness score, 3 (5%) gained good awareness score and 21(35%) had poor awareness score. The sociodemographic variables such as age and gender were significantly influencing the awareness regarding substance abuse and the organized teaching program is found to be effective in creating awareness among students. Conclusion: Majority of the participants were not aware about substance abuse and organized teaching program helps to create awareness among the participants


INTRODUCTION
Drinking alcohol among adolescents is a major concern in many countries.It can reduce self-control and increase risky behaviours, such as unsafe sex or dangerous driving.It is an underlining cause of injuries, violence and premature death.It can also lead to health problems in later life and affects life expectancy.The vast majority of people using illegal substances when they were adolescents.Prohibiting the sale of substances to minors and increasing price of products through higher taxes, banning tobacco advertising and ensuring smoke-free environments are crucial.Early drug abuse correlates with substance abuse problems later in life and the most significant increases in destructive behaviour appear to take place among older teens and young adults.Nationwide 2.08million or 8.33% of 12-17 years olds are using drugs in the year of 2019, among them ,83.88% report using marijuana.A person's overall health is about much more than the absence of disease. 7Many recent shifts are propelling adolescence into the forefront of global public health.There is a youth bulge with 1.8 billion, 10-24-year-old comprising over a quarter of the global population. 8College is an exciting time for students.Yet, as their world opens up to new adventure and possibility, many health risks surround them.From illnesses to unhealthy lifestyle habits, which are the biggest health concerns faced by the college students. 9Substance abuse is a common phenomenon in the world and has invaded the human society as the most important social damage.Nationwide 2.08 million or 8.33 % of 12-17 years old are using drugs in the year of 2019, among them 83.88% report using marijuana 10.Drinking alcohol among adolescents is a major concern in many countries.Worldwide more than a quarter of all people aged 15-19 years are current drinkers amounting to 155 million adolescents.Prevalence of heavy episodic drinking among adolescents aged 15-19 years was 13.6% in 2019, with males most at risk.Cannabis is the most widely used psychoactive drug among young people with about 4.7% of people aged 15-16 years using it at least once in 2020.The national monitoring the future 2020 survey indicates that among full time college students in the united states,15.3%have used cigarette ,29% are heavy alcohol users and 24.7% have used marijuana during the past 30 days. 9oday's children are tomorrow's citizens; it is necessary for us to prevent adolescents to become prone to substance abuse.Continuous use of substance leads to physical and psychological harm and is difficult to stop.Thus it is very important to improve the knowledge in college students, as they are the future assets of the nation, which lead us to conduct this study among undergraduate students of colleges.Substance abuse is growing at an explosive rate, and in just a little over the decade, it has spread its malevolent tentacles to almost every part of the globe surmounting almost all barriers.Substance abuse is found in all age groups, but its prevalence is higher among adolescents and young adults, a large majority of them were students.This study will enable them to understand the after-effects of substance abuse and preventive measures to overcome the situations.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1. To evaluate the effectiveness of organized teaching program on awareness regarding substance abuse among students in selected colleges.2. To find the association between pre-test scores of knowledge with the selected sociodemographic variables.

MATERIALS AND METHODS Study design, sample and setting:
The present study is a college based pre-experimental study conducted among the college students at selected colleges, Kochi.Nonprobability convenient sampling technique was used to select the study samples.60 college students were selected for the study.The study was initiated after obtaining Ethics committee permission.Informed consent was taken from the participants.
Confidentiality was maintained throughout the study.
Research Approach: Quantitative research approach Research Design: Pre-experimental one group pre-test post-test research design

Data collection instruments:
Tool 1: Socio demographic proforma Tool 2: Semi-structured questionnaire Semi-Structured questionnaire to assess the knowledge regarding substance abuse among students in selected colleges, Kochi.It includes 30 multiple choice questions to assess the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on substance abuse among the students.In the total of 30 questions, the knowledge score for each question is 1 and the knowledge level is categorized into good (20-30), average (10-19) and poor (0-9).Data analysis: The data were optically scrutinized and entered in SPSS and data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.Content validity: For checking content validity, the tool was given to 4 subject experts, as per suggestions of the experts, the tool was modified and finalized.It was found that the tool was valid and also given to statistician for the validity.

Reliability:
The reliability was checked by split half method.The reliability of knowledge questionnaire was calculated and found to be 0.89, which indicated an acceptable level of reliability of tool.

Section 1: Socio demographic data of the subjects
Present study included a study sample of 60.Out of 60 samples, majority of the samples 44 (73.3%) are aged between 20-21 years.In gender, 5(8.33%) were males and 55 (91.66%) were females.Association between pre-test scores of knowledge with the selected sociodemographic variables.

Fig. 1: Frequency distribution and percentage of students based on gender
It is clearly evident that sociodemographic variable such as age and gender are having a p value less than 0.05 and therefore it is considered to be statistically significant.The study revealed that out of 60 samples 36 respondents (60%) have average awareness score, 3 (5%) gained good awareness score and 21(35%) had poor awareness score.And the organized teaching programme on awareness regarding substance abuse was very effective among the students.

Discussion
The present study assessed the effectiveness of organized teaching programme on awareness regarding substance abuse among students in selected colleges Kochi.A total of 60 samples were taken for study out of which more than half of the respondents (60%) have an average awareness score,5%of them gained a good awareness score and few percentage of the respondents(35%) were graded with poor awareness score.The study finding is congruent with a study conducted in North India, it revealed that majority of the participants were not aware about effects of substance abuse(35.5%) 8n the light of the population based study most the study participants were females (91.66%) and male respondents were (8.33%)Another study was conducted on population of 7560 from 73 selected schools in kerala using a self administered questionnaire to asses the substance use among them.The result of the study was 23.2% of boys and 6.5% of girls are using substance abuse and are addicted to substance abuse.

CONCLUSION
The health education session had a significant effect in improving the knowledge regarding substance abuse among adolescents.Since there were significant improvement, it is considered that the education session regarding substance abuse was effective.These nursing interventions yield good improvement in knowledge of adolescents without any side effects and financial burden.

Conflicts of interest:
There are no conflicts of interest.Source of finding: self -finance Ethical clearance: research proposal was presented before the research committee of Amrita College of Nursing.The permission was obtained from the respective head of the department to conduct the study.
The informed consent was obtained from the subjects before data collection.Confidentiality of data collected was ensured.