Effectiveness of Applied Life Skill Program for Promoting Health Behavior to Prevention Substance Abuse among Primary School Students in Muang District, Chonburi Province

Abstract

Drugs abuse is a main social problem in Thailand. There has been a drastic rise in drugs abuse among adolescents in schools and communities; and effective control measures are urgently needed. The objective of this quasi experimental research was to study effectiveness to applied life skill program for health promotion behaviors to prevent drugs abuse in a primary school in Muang District, Chonburi province. It was conducted during May – June 2014. Two classes were randomly selected; one was assigned as the study class comprising of 45 students, and the other class (with 43 students) was treated as the control. All students in the study class were assigned to perform life skill program developed by drug control personnel in the province. The program was prepared as a 6-week teaching plan which included recreation activities, singing, role playing, work sheets and learning conclusion record sheet. The life skill program was not applied for the control group. Data were collected through questionnaire; and were analyzed by using percentage, mean, standard deviation, paired t-test and independence t-test. It was found that students in experimental group had significantly better skills in decision-making, problem solving, social responsibility, emotional and anxiety control, drug refusal, analytic and creative thinking, self awareness, empathy and behaviors to avoid narcotic substances when compared to the control group (p<0.05). Based on the findings, it was recommended that the life skill approach to prevent drug addiction should be widely promoted in school. It could be integrated into study subjects like scout program and health education.