Effects of a drug use preventive behaviors development for youth leaders at Nong Bunmak District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province

Abstract

The objectives of this quasi-experimental research were to compare knowledge about addictive drugs, perceived risks of drug use and the severity of drugs, perceived benefits of drug use preventive behaviors, perceived self-efficacy in drug use preventive behaviors and drug use preventive behaviors of the experimental group between before and after the experiment and between the experimental group and the comparison group after the experiment. The sample consisted of student leaders in the “ TO BE NUMBER ONE ” program. They were randomly selected from Nongboonmakphitthayakhom School, and Nong Bun Mak Prasong Witthaya School, 30 persons in each group. The research tools were the Drug Use Preventive Behaviors Development Program for youth leaders based on the Health Belief model and questionnaires. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, Wilcoxon signed ranks test, and Mann-Whitney U test. The results were as follows. After the experiment, the knowledge about drugs, the scores of perceived severity of drugs, perceived benefits of drug use preventive behaviors, perceived self-efficacy in drug use preventive behaviors and drug use preventive behaviors of the experimental group were significantly higher than before the experiment and higher than the comparison group (p < .05). The perceived risks of drug use of the experimental group was significantly lower than before the experiment but there was no difference as compare to the comparison group.