African Journal of Alcohol and Drug Abuse (AJADA)
Not a member yet
110 research outputs found
Sort by
Peer-Based Life Skills Approach to Substance Use Prevention: :The Philippine Experience
Full text linkThis research examines the Philippine experience in utilizing a peer-based life skills approach to substance use prevention. Recognizing the need to achieve the sustainable development goal on ensuring healthy lives and promoting healthy wellbeing for all at all ages, this intervention addresses the need to develop the students’ life skills and practical competencies. Given the strategic position of peers in shaping an adolescent’s health behavior, the program capacitated 15 youth facilitators in three public schools in Metro Manila who met the following criteria: role model, 12-15 years old, with charismatic personality, has good communication skills, willing to devote time for the training and teaching peers, and committed to helping others. The peer facilitators underwent a 4-day training and 2-day booster session on building self-esteem, personal skills, decision-making, communication, assertion, refusal, group facilitation, social and presentation skills. The skills inventory revealed that the trained peer facilitators have improved their life skills after taking part in the program. Moreover, after passing the readiness assessment, they in turn capacitated 15 of their peers per school, and a booster session was conducted to sustain positive health outcomes. Using participant observation, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions, the study revealed that the peer approach was effective in developing knowledge and life skills of junior students. It was also evident that prevention messages embedded in these life skills were more valued as young people apply them in their everyday life. It improved their relationships not only with their peers, but also with their parents and teachers. This study recommends that parents be targeted substance use prevention and that schools engage student leaders and other stakeholders for program sustainability
Level of risk in substance use among undergraduate students in Kenya: Implications for prevention intervention
Full text linkDespite the negative effects of substance use on university students, the level of risk of substance use and its implication on prevention interventions in Kenya is yet to be fully explored. The main objective of the study was to determine the level of risk in substance use among students and its implications on prevention interventions. Descriptive cross sectional survey research design was used. A World Health Organization questionnaire - Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) was adapted to measure the level of risk and student awareness of prevention interventions. The questionnaires were distributed to 1,500 participants from 12 universities across Kenya. An in-depth interview was conducted among the university counsellors to find out the efficacy of prevention interventions. Overall, lifetime prevalence for substance use was 48.6% and current prevalence rate was 37.9% among undergraduate students in Kenya. Public universities reported significantly higher prevalence of current use of substances than private universities. Those who had not used substances in the past three months before the study were 993 (69.5%), the low-risk users were 205 (14.3%), moderate risk users were at 187 (13.1%) and 44 (3.1%) of the respondents were high-risk users. Prevention interventions that were found in universities were mostly universal prevention strategies which targeted the entire student population without regard to the level of risk of individual students. The study concludes that substance use is a health problem in Kenyan universities and there is urgent need to develop and implement interventions that target moderate and high risk users
Prevalence And Patterns Of Early Drug Abuse Among Clients Attending Ngara Medically Assisted Therapy Clinic Nairobi, Kenya : A Retrospective Study.
Full text linkSubstance abuse and its effects on physical and psychosocial health is becoming a global public health concern, mostly affecting adolescents and youth. Globally, 29.5 million people suffer from drug use disorders, opioids being the most harmful. A report by NACADA (2016), reveals that 11.7% of boys and 5.4% of girls in schools abuse drugs and that initiation of drug and alcohol use is likely to occur during adolescence. The objective of this study was to establish the age of onset to drug use and pattern of substance abuse among patients attending the Ngara Methadone Clinic. Data was collected on sex, age of onset of drug use, age of onset of heroin use and the type of drug first used from the standard government registers and patients’ medical records for clients attending medically assisted therapy at the Ngara Methadone Clinic from February 2017 to March 2018. A total of 388 clients participated in the study. Findings revealed that the mean age of onset to drug use was 16 years. Cannabis was the most commonly used drug (35.9%) followed by Tobacco (29.1%), alcohol (12%), heroin (11.3%), khat (5.9%), benzodiazepines (3%), glue (1.5%), amphetamines (0.3%), cocaine (0.3%) and barbiturates (1%). Most participants used more than one drug at a time. A two-sample independent t-test revealed that there was a significant difference in the mean ages of onset of other drug use (M =16.3,SD 4.6) and mean ages of onset of heroin use (M=21.8, SD=5.7). The study recommends the creation of awareness on drug use in schools and subsequent screening for drugs in both primary and secondary schools
Prevalence of Substance Abuse among Students in Medical Training Colleges in South Nyanza Region, Kenya
Full text linkSubstance abuse among the youth is a worldwide public health challenge. An estimated 10-15% of medical students risk substance abuse in their lifetime. Risk potential evaluation would inform appropriate intervention. This study sought to establish the prevalence of substance abuse among medical students. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out involving students in Medical Training Colleges in South Nyanza region, Kenya. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect information on substance abuse. Results: 303 students were recruited for this study. The mean age of the respondents was 21.96 years (18-23, S.D 0.4) with majority being females. Nearly all respondents were Christians 295 (97.4%). More than half (n=159, 52.5%) of the respondents reported having ever used at least one substance. Those who had ever used and who sustained the use of the substances respectively was as follows: alcohol 52.5%, 27.4%; tobacco 12.2%, 2.6%; khat 17.5%, 3.6% and marijuana, 9.2%, 2.0%. Among the prescription drugs, diazepam was abused by 7 (2.3%) of the respondents while shisha (6.6 %) was the commonly abused among the emerging substances of abuse. Conclusion: The lifetime prevalence of any one of the substances abused by students in the medical training colleges was high. There is need for the management of these colleges to mainstream substance abuse preventive measures in their policies
Status of drugs and substance abuse among Secondary School students in Kenya
No full textoai:ojs.ajada.nacada.go.ke:article/1Early initiation of substance use increases the risk of future substance use disorders and other negative outcomes. This study conducted between March and June 2016 explored the secondary students’ drugs and substance use behaviour and related risk factors. Using a sampling frame of schools registered with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, 77 secondary schools were randomly sampled. A total of 3,908 students (60% male and 40% female) in all the eight regions of Kenya were interviewed. According to the study findings, the age of initiating the different drugs and substances of abuse among secondary school students was 13 to 15 years. Data also showed that alcohol (23.4%) was the most commonly used substance of abuse by students followed by khat / miraa (17.0%), prescription drugs (16.1%), tobacco (14.5%), bhang / marijuana (7.5%), inhalants (2.3%), heroin (1.2%) and cocaine (1.1%). Among the risk factors associated with drugs and substances of abuse among secondary school students were: being male; being in upper classes; having a family member or friend using drugs or other substances of abuse; and knowledge of a schoolmate using drugs or other substances of abuse. The findings therefore concluded that the secondary schools in Kenya were not drug free environments and therefore there is need to entrench life skills in the school curriculum; enhancing parenting skills and positive role modeling; and capacity building of guidance and counseling teachers to effectively deal with the challenges of students’ drugs and substances ofabuse
Challenges Facing The Implementation Of Kenya’s Alcoholic Drinks Control Act 2010
Full text linkThe negative effects of alcohol consumption in Kenya are known and acknowledged in different perspectives: socially, it has disintegrated families; economically, it has derailed the lives of individuals; societal and national capital and health wise, it has caused untimely deaths. Alcohol is blamed for different diseases. It is the source of suffering in families through domestic violence, neglect of responsibilities and high poverty levels. The Alcoholic Drinks Control Act 2010 was introduced by the government as a legal framework to counter all the problems related to alcohol through regulation of alcohol promotions, licensing and provisions of treatment and rehabilitation of addicts. Despite the presence of the legislation in Kenya, the problems associated with alcohol are still rampant. This is evidenced by illicit brew trade and deaths associated with it, proliferations of counterfeit alcoholic brands, liquor outlets operating without proper licensing, and underage drinking and adulteration of liquor. This study sought to examine the challenges facing the implementation of the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act 2010. The study is qualitative, and utilized secondary sources of data by analyzing research reports from studies carried out in different parts of Kenya on challenges facing the implementation of the law. It found that the main challenges facing the implementation of the law are: corruption, inadequate human resources to implement the law, trade in counterfeit alcohol brands that is not properly regulated, devolution of alcohol control function, litigations against the Act, and inadequate knowledge concerning the la
Prevalence of Depression among Female Injecting Drug Users (FIDUs): Study of a Drop-in Rehabilitation Center in Nairobi County, Kenya
Full text linkFemale injecting drug use needs to be addressed urgently because of its association with depressive symptoms. Females with the habit of getting drugs injected into their bodies have significant needs which expose them to a high risk of diseases making them vulnerable to depression and other psychological morbidities. The study was carried out to explore the extensiveness of depression among females injecting drug users in Nairobi County, Kenya. A cross-sectional design was used in the study while purposive sampling was used to recruit 149 participants aged above 18 years. Sociodemographic questionnaire, Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) and Becks Depression Inventory (BDI) were used to collect data. Data was analyzed quantitatively using frequencies and percentages using SPSS version 21. Most respondents were unemployed (83.2%) and single (81.9%) whose ages ranged between 26-40 years. Even though the risk level for heroin was notably high compared to all other drugs, alcohol products seemed to be the most commonly abused by female injecting drug users followed by tobacco products and khat. This is an indication that most participants are poly-drug users. There are scanty studies on female drug users that have been carried out in Africa to objectively evaluate the relationship between depression and female injecting drug users. Most studies focus on men or generally do a combined study of both males and females. This fact implies that issues associated with female IDUs are not well documented which raises a possible concern for policy makers to develop suitable regulations that revolve around needs affecting these females. It would be vital for harm reduction strategies to be implemented in all drug programs and Comprehensive Care Clinics (CCC)
Prevalence and Predictors of Multiple Substance Use Disorders in Kenya
Full text linkSubstance use disorders (SUD) is a worldwide public health problem which has massive direct and indirect costs to the individual and society. Multiple substance use disorders, arising from multiple drug combinations, whether serial or simultaneous, pose a serious challenge for drug treatment outcomes compared to a single substance addiction because each substance produces a unique array of physical and emotional effects. This study was undertaken with an aim of determining the prevalence and predictors of multiple substance use disorders in Kenya. It adopted a cross-sectional study design where both quantitative and qualitative data were collected between November and December 2016, covering aged 15 - 65 years. The respondents were identified through stratified multi-stage random sampling. Data on substance use disorders was captured using the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM –5). According to the findings, the prevalence of past year multiple substance use disorders among respondents was 5.3%. The most commonly reported multiple substance use disorders pattern was alcohol and tobacco (2.5%) followed by tobacco and khat (0.8%); alcohol and khat (0.7%); alcohol, tobacco and khat (0.5%); and alcohol, tobacco khat and bhang (0.3%). The prevalence of past year nonmultiple substance use disorders was 10.0%. Findings showed that residing in an urban setting and being male were predictors of multiple substance use disorders. This means that management of multiple substance abuse will benefit greatly from targeted approaches that address risk factors associated with alcohol abuse among male residents of urban areas
Parental Involvement in the Management of Drug Abuse Crisis among Children and Youth in Kenya
Full text linkThe World Drug Report 2019 shows that in 2017, an estimated 271 million people, or 5.5 per cent of the global population aged 15–64, had used drugs in the previous year and that the drug problem had reached crisis level. The report indicated that the crisis affected young people irrespective of gender. Substance use in early age leads to many negative outcomes in adulthood including compromised work efficiency, poor family relationships and disrupted educational achievement. Though drug abuse is a major concern worldwide, the strategies adopted to address it do not succeed when they don’t factor the range of factors that impact young people’s lives, key among them parental involvement. Parental involvement refers to the amount of participation a parent has when it comes to a child’s life. Research has shown that parents play a major role in preventing substance abuse among children and youth, including those who have initiated drug use. This paper is a desktop review of research and reports on parental involvement and its impact on management of drug and substance abuse (DSA) among children and youth with a view to making recommendations to address the problem. The paper concludes that parental monitoring and supervision of their children’s friendships are critical for DSA prevention. It thus recommends that parents should set rules for their children’s activities and monitor their friends as well as social engagement to ensure appropriate behavior and reduce chances of involvement in drug and substance abuse. law, trade in counterfeit alcohol brands that is not properly regulated, devolution of alcohol control function, litigations against the Act, and inadequate knowledge concerning the law
Status of Drugs and Substance Abuse among the General Population in Kenya
Full text linkThis study was undertaken between November and December 2016 as a follow-up to two other studies conducted in 2007 and 2012 to assess the status of drugs and substance abuse in Kenya. The study covered respondents aged 15 – 65 years who were identified through stratified multi-stage random sampling. The 3,362 sampled households were distributed proportionately across the eight regions of Kenya. According to the findings, the prevalence of current usage of alcohol among respondents aged 15 – 65 years stands at 12.2%, tobacco 8.3%, khat 4.1% and bhang / marijuana 1.0%. Data on current use of multiple drugs and substances of abuse among respondents aged 15 - 65 years shows that the prevalence stands at 6.0%. Further, the study shows that the prevalence of alcohol use disorders among respondents aged 15 - 65 years stands at 10.4%, tobacco use disorders stand at 6.8%, khat use disorders stands at 3.1% and bhang / marijuana use disorders stands at 0.8%. Although findings point towards a downward trend on usage, the burden of substance use disorders presents a serious challenge for the country. The study therefore lays emphasis on evidence-based prevention programs as well as increasing access to affordable treatment and rehabilitation services in Keny