Abstract
The use of non-conventional drug is one of the risky behaviours adolescents practice due to lack of knowledge on the negative implications. This however raises serious concerns on the well-being and quality of life of adolescents who have devised new methods of abuse apart from the conventional methods and drugs. The school appears to be the place where this is practiced and transferred. The study assumes that this problem may persist and leave grave consequences if teachers especially are unaware of this fact. To curtail this, the study examined the effectiveness of communication intervention strategies such as the use of seminars, posters and fliers to improve the level of awareness, knowledge and perception of teachers on substance abuse among adolescents in selected secondary schools in Yaba/Shomolu, Lagos state. Premised on the elaboration likelihood model theory of persuasion and change of attitude as well as the source credibility theory, true-experimental design was used to collect data from 62 teachers (35=experimental and 27=control) from the four schools selected purposively at both pre and post-intervention stages. Findings revealed a significant difference in the level of awareness (pre-mean=71.48; post-mean=92.54), knowledge (pre-mean=51.14;post-mean=59.4) and perception (pre-mean=23.48;post-mean=27.02) of experimental groups on substance abuse among adolescents while that of the control groups remained the same. The study concludes that communication intervention strategies have positive effects on teachers’ level of awareness, knowledge and perception of substance abuse among adolescents. Recommendations were centred on the need for teachers to adopt preventive strategies in tackling this negative health practice among adolescents. Keywords: Substance abuse, Awareness, Knowledge, Perception, Communication Interventions. DOI : 10.7176/NMMC/83-05 Publication date :September 30 th 2019
Highlights
Okoye (2001) cited in Fareo (2012), defines a drug as a substance that causes different biological changes in through its che【30】mical actions
The result of all www.iiste.org hypothesis are for the experimental groups and excludes that of the control groups as there was no significant difference in knowledge, awareness and perception in the pre-test and post-test carried out
Communication intervention strategies have proven to be effective in the awareness, knowledge and perception of teachers on substance abuse among adolescents
Summary
Okoye (2001) cited in Fareo (2012), defines a drug as a substance that causes different biological changes in through its che【30】mical actions. For the purpose of this research, communication intervention tools in form of seminars, flyers and posters were employed to create awareness and provide foundational knowledge as well as change the perception of teachers on substance abuse among students in selected secondary schools in Yaba/Shomolu local government, Lagos. In relation to the study, the messages from the seminars on substance abuse among students were comprehensive and effective in increasing or creating awareness and knowledge for teachers as well as alter their perception or a change in attitude on how to prevent substance abuse among students This was achieved by emphasizing prevention and suggesting measures rather than severe punishment such as suspension or expulsion. Thereafter, the communication interventions (seminars, flyers and posters) were administered solely to the experimental groups and were given a period of one month each to determine the effect of the interventions on their level of awareness, knowledge and perception of substance abuse among adolescents (post-test). With a return rate of 62 out of the 125 copies administered, between both groups at pre-and post-intervention stages, data was analysed using descriptive statistical tools while the hypotheses were tested with the Paired T-test to determine the level of significance in terms of the differences observed at pre-intervention and post-intervention stages
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