Developing an effective substance abuse prevention program for adolescents in Bangladesh

Abstract

The present study aims to develop an effective substance abuse prevention program for adolescents in Bangladesh. The study also explored the efficacy of the developed substance abuse prevention program. There were two groups, an experimental and a control group containing 143 (72 in the experimental and 71 in the control) participants aged 12 to 18 in each group. A convenient sampling technique was used to collect the data from the participants. To measure the baseline data, four self-report questionnaires named Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS), Hostility scale, Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale – 20, and the Short Moods and Feelings Questionnaire and also a short demographic information form was administered. Based on existing literature as well as with the expert and judge evaluation two sessions of training materials containing emotion regulation and assertive communication skills were developed for the adolescents in Bangladesh. After ensuring that there was no significant difference between the two groups by analyzing the independent sample t-test in the four measures, intervention (prevention program) was administered to the experimental group while the control group didn’t receive any intervention (control group received the same intervention after follow-up assessment). After the intervention post assessment was taken from both groups and one month later, those questionnaires were conducted again to see if there was any significant change among pre-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up assessments. Two-way repeated measure ANOVA was used to analyze the data. Results indicate that within-subjects there was a significant main effect of time on the four questionnaires. There was also a significant main effect of group on all measures except the SCAS-20 and also there was a significant main interaction effect of time and group. This means adolescents hostility, risk of substance abuse, depression and anxiety reduced over time in the experimental group that was significantly differed (except the anxiety) from the control group, and also the rate of change in the Experimental group was significantly different from the Control group over time. This indicates the prevention program that used in the present study was effective to prevent substance abuse.