Developing Life Skills Training Module in Drug Abuse Preventive Program among Adolescents in Mumbai

Objectives: 1. To assess the drug abuse among adolescents in study and control group 2.  To evaluate the impact of drug abuse preventive program on substance abuse among adolescents. Novelty: Drug abuse is now-a-days one of the gravest social harms. Recent years have experienced a drastic rise in drug abuse among school and college students. Thus, the need for special attention to the issue is deemed important. The present study was conducted with the aim of assessing the impact of Life skills training on promotion of drug abuse preventive behaviors. Evidence based substance use preventive interventions like life skills training program can be rooted in school/ college curriculum. Methodology: Research Approach was quantitative approach; Research Design was Quasi experimental pre-test post-test; Target Population – School students; Sampling techniques – stratified proportionate sampling; Sample –Eight standard students from selected school of Maharashtra who fulfil the inclusion criteria.  Sample size was 60; Inclusion Criteria – Students willing to participate in the study and who were present during the Drug abuse preventive program training.  Exclusion criteria –Students who have attended drug abuse training program in past. Data were collected through a questionnaire, including two sections of demographic information and drug abuse preventive behaviors (Self-awareness, Decision making, Problem solving, Critical thinking, stress management and Drug abuse effects). The tools were prepared and taken validity and reliability from the experts of the subject. Findings: The study group received 3 hours of training on 6 preventive behaviours while control group received no training. Later, the post tests were conducted after completion of training on Drug abuse preventive program.  Mann Whitney results among the groups showed that the drug abuse preventive training program was significantly effective in raising the awareness in study group than the control group. It was recommended that Drug abuse preventive training program should be used as an adjunct strategy in school curriculum so as to enhance prevention of drug abuse among adolescents.