Assess the Prevalence and Pattern of Substance Abuse and to Evaluate the Effectiveness of an Informational Booklet on Substance Abuse in Terms of Knowledge and Attitude of Higher Secondary School Students

Adolescence are periods of experimentation, exploration, identity formation, risk taking, and assertion for independence in every person's life. Naturally, the incidence of drug abuse in children and adolescents is higher than the general population. [1] A wide variety of substances are produced for medicinal purposes. These include central nervous system (CNS) stimulants (e.g., amphetamines), CNS depressants (e.g., sedatives, tranquilizers), as well as numerous over-the-counter preparations designed to relieve nearly every kind of human ailment, real or imagined.[2]Substance use among adolescents is one such risky behaviour that had emerged as a global concern. [3] In India, consumption of tobacco and alcohol has become common among adolescents, and in the case of tobacco consumption, the age of initiation was observed to be as low as 12 years.[4] The supreme Court (14 December,2022) told the government that 1.58 crore children aged between 10 and 17 years are addicted to substance in the country.[5] Materials and Methods: A quantitative quasi experimental one group pre-test, post-test design was use to evaluate the effectiveness of an informational booklet on substance abuse in terms of knowledge and attitude of higher secondary school students. The study conducted on 200 samples. Data was collected using following tools – 1. Structured Questionnaire on substance abuse 2. Structured Knowledge questionnaire to evaluate the knowledge on prevention of substance abuse 3. Structured attitude scale to assess the attitude regarding prevention of substance abuse. Results: The mean post-test knowledge score 20.97 was higher than the mean pre-test 13.25 with mean difference of 7.72 which was found statistically significant with "t" value t (199) =35.97 at 0.05 level of significance. Majority (86.5%) of higher secondary school students in post-test had positive attitude towards the prevention of substance abuse. The mean post-test attitude score 69.66was higher than the mean pre-test 58.20 with a mean difference of 11.46 which was found statistically significant "t" value t(99)=21.31 at 0.05 level of significance. Above findings reveals that the informational booklet was effective in enhancing both the knowledge and attitude of higher secondary school students. There was a positive correlation (r=0.550) between the post-test knowledge and post-test attitude score on prevention of substance abuse. Conclusion: After the detailed analysis of the study findings showed that pre-test finding showed that, most of the higher secondary school students had average knowledge and neutral attitude regarding substance abuse. but after the administration of information booklet, it enhancing knowledge and positive attitude of the higher secondary school students regarding substance abuse. There was no significant association found between the post-test knowledge score of higher secondary school students with selected variables. There was a significant association between the post attitude score of higher secondary school students with type of family.