Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Ill Effects of Substance Use Among School Going Children, Golaghat

Abstract

Adolescent starts with early healthy teens and ends up with the many unhealthy issues if not taken care of One of the high risk health issues of adolescence is related to substance use. It is a decade ago worldwide problem where India too has fallen into this viscous cycle. It has not only affected the health of adolescence but has also affected the future of the entire nation. Objectives: The study aimed to find out knowledge and attitude on ill effects of substance use among school going children. Material and Methods: The study adopted cross sectional descriptive design. The study was conducted in three School of Golaghat, Assam for a period of 2 weeks among 265 school going children who were selected using purposive sampling technique after taking the consent. Tool knowledge questionnaire related Substance Use and Attitude scale related Substance Use was used. Results: It was found that 94% of the school going children was having high knowledge level on the ill effects of substance use and their attitude varies towards the substance use. There was no significant association found between knowledge score and selected socio demographic variable. Conclusion: It was found that even after having sufficient knowledge and negative attitude towards the substance use, many adolescent are trapped in this phenomena. It may be because of lack of assertiveness and weaken coping ability of the adolescence. Keywords: Knowledge, Attitude, Substance use, School Going Children.