Assessment of secondary school students’ knowledge and attitude towards drug abuse: implications for counselling

Abstract

The rate at which adolescents fall victims of drug abuse is high due to their ignorance about the negative consequence of the act. The descriptive study assessed the knowledge and attitude of secondary school students towards drug abuse and its implications for counseling. Random sampling techniques was used in drawn 600 secondary school students from Ilesa Metroplis in Osun State. Four research questions were raised to guide the study. Questionnaire Knowledge and Attitude towards Drug Abuse Questionnaire (KATDAQ) was used in collecting data for the study. Data collected were analyzed using mean scores and mean ranking of items, and t-test. The results of the study reveal that (a) university students were not knowledgeable about drug abuse, (b) they have a positive disposition towards drug abuse, (c) the most common place undergraduates source for information about drug abuse are from friends, neighbours and social networks. It was however, found that there was significant difference in the attitude of male and female students towards drug abuse. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher recommended the establishment of counseling units in the schools, Churches, mosques, other places of worship and the media should work assiduously with a view to curbing drug abuse. The school counsellors should work in collaboration with NDLEA (National Drug Law Enforcement Agency) to be organizing workshop, talks for students on the dangers of drug abuse.