Awareness and Perception of Undergraduate Students on Hazards Associated with Substance Abuse among Students

Abstract

Substance abuse is on the rise among youths in Nigeria. An effective way of managing substance abuse is by advocacy and publicity. These can be achieved in sundry ways. Therefore the present study was designed to collect data on the awareness and perception of university students on the hazards of substance abuse. A well-structured questionnaire containing the indices for substance abuse advocacy and publicity was developed and uploaded online amongst Nnamdi Azikiwe University Students social media platforms. The members of the platforms were encouraged to participate in the online survey. The online submission platform was preferred since the instrument for data collection was also meant as an advocacy and publicity agent. The online submission also guaranteed the confidentiality of the participants. The study was conducted between May 2023 and August 2023. A total of 108 participants responded to the questionnaire. The data were expressed in frequencies while chi-square and likelihood ratio were used to evaluate data for interpretations. Significant value was place at p<0.05. The 4 most predominant substances abused were Indian hemp (29.6%), Methamphetamine (25.9%), Cocaine (15.7%) and Marijuana (11.1%) and the 3 most predominant impact of substance abuse were increased craving (45.4%), untidy appearance (19.4%) and emotional imbalance (11.1%), (X²= 53.500; P<0.001 & X²=129.037; P<0.001)respectively. The perception that substance abuse is associated with infection (73.1%) was high (X²=80.991; p<0.001) but the awareness of Rehabilitation centres (30.6%) for substance abuse victims was poor (X²=13.885; p<0.001). Crosstab analysis showed both perception of infections and awareness of rehabilitation centres (X²=6.530; p=0.038; Likelihood ratio= 7.438; p=0.024). About 95% of the participants proffered the development of a curriculum for advocacy and publicity of substance abuse as panacea in stemming the problem. It was observed that University students are aware of the menace of substance abuse but are not aware of existing rehabilitation centres for victims of substance abuse. It is the opinion of the authors that a well-developed curriculum is necessary for advocacy and publicity.