Health Promotion Plan on Substance Abuse - Assignment Example

?RUNNING HEAD: Health Promotion Plan On Substance Abuse Health Promotion Plan Substance Abuse [Pick the Introduction The teaching plan is concerned with providing necessary knowledge to teenage students of the selected school regarding substance abuse. Substance abuse refers to the use of alcohol, drugs, other chemicals and psychoactive substances which are neither prescribed nor approved by medical practitioners and experts. There are various researches conducted which have supported the finding that teenage students develop inclination towards substance abuse which leads to the patterns of alcoholism and drug addictions in later part of life and also has diminishing impacts on the overall mental and physical health. The selected population stratum for this teaching program is teenage school students within the age limit of 13-14 years. This segment is particularly selected because researches have shown that substance abuse usually begins in early teenage life due to various factors and not only affects the quality of present life by causing physical and mental distress but also leads to alcoholism and drug addiction later. Literature Review Alcoholism and drug addiction is an increasing problem in adolescents these days. Various researches conducted have shown an increasing trend in the consumption of sentence abuse. Where there are various factors identified for this increased pattern of consumption, one of them was found to be unsupervised teenage life in which substance abuse leads to addiction in later part of life. According to researches conducted by Changalwa et al. (2012), Bahr and Hoffman (2012) and, Peckham and Morgan-Lopez (2007), there is a direct link between parenting styles and substance abuse in teenagers and adolescents. Teenagers with unhealthy or strained bonding with their parents and guardians tend to develop inclination towards substance abuse during their teenage life which leads to addiction in future. Where children need compassion and love in their childhood, teenagers need supervision from their parents and guardians. According to study conducted bbc.co.uk in 2011, “The research found high levels of parental attachment when children were aged less than five significantly reduced the chances of them drinking excessively later in life.” Hence, children with their parents having authoritative parenting style tend to develop healthy personalities since this parenting style is a combination of love, independence and supervision allowing children to make decisions (shunning rebellion resulting substance abuse) but with necessary guidance (which allows teenagers to be aware of what is harmful for them and do not give them over-independence). Therefore, child’s desires are well-respected but with necessary controls imposed. According to American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2011), “The most commonly used illegal drugs are marijuana (pot), stimulants (cocaine, crack, and speed), LSD, PCP, opiates, heroin, and designer drugs (Ecstasy).  The use of illegal drugs is increasing, especially among young teens.  The average age of first marijuana use is 14, and alcohol use can start before age 12.  The use of marijuana and alcohol in high school has become common”. It is important to note that drugs and alcohol are not easily accessible commodities. Therefore, for teenagers to have access to them means getting involved in criminal activities or being present in an environment which is harmful for their cognitive growth. According to researches of Baumrind (1991) and Njenga (2005), environment and inheritance are the two decisive factors which instigate substance abuse in teenagers. For an environment, current family setup, daily settings including academic setup and playgrounds, cultural forces and peer pressure are the basic elements which have direct impact on the teenagers and adolescents. On the other hand, hereditary traits also play a vital role in inducing substance abuse even if the environment is healthy enough. Various researches have shown that alcoholism and drugs addiction in later part of life begins with substance abuse in teenage. The consumption patterns vary according to gender and age limit. However, consumption of substance abuse in teenagers is mostly related to the age limit of 13-16 years (McVie & Holmes, 2005; Heron et al., 2012). Substance abuse in early teenage is expected to result in physical and mental health disorders, possible low self-esteem which has a direct impact on quality of education received, academic performance, relationships with family and friends, disturbance in social behavior and depression-related disorders. According to Johnson and Padina (1991), teenagers and adolescents with tendency of not attempting substance abuse were found to have higher degree of self-confidence. Also where teenagers are not provided with sufficient guidance and affection from their elders, the ultimate escape is substance abuse. Where it is difficult to control the environmental settings in which a teenager operates, there is always a risk that teenager school students will attempt substance abuse which not only has direct impact on quality of their present life affecting their physical and mental health but have a tendency of hampering their future growth as well. Chances of developing addiction in adolescence, depression, and other physical and mental health problems are inherent to substance abuse in teenage. Therefore, it is important that teenage school students are made aware of the possible side-effects of substance abuse which they might be currently indulged in due to ineffective parental control, desire to show rebellion (in cases of strict parenting) or peer pressure. Through this teaching program, possible outcomes of substance abuse such as risk of developing addiction, failure in academics, and poor judgment which may result in violent behavior, accidents, undesired pregnancy and excessive sex resulting in related diseases and health conditions and suicide, will be shared with the students attending the presentation. There are various goals related to this teaching program. In short-term, this program is expected to develop necessary understanding in teenage population of the relevant school related to substance abuse and reduce the frequency of substance abuse if there is any taking place. School settings are selected for this program because students spend more than seven waking hours in the same settings and interaction taking place between them and other environmental forces such as teachers, class fellows etc, during this time has a direct impact on their overall cognitive processing throughout the day. The long-term goal is to create awareness in teenagers and helping them develop a healthy life style in later part of their lives and also make their parents and communities understand the importance of disseminating knowledge about substance abuse and take relevant actions ensuring prohibition of substance abuse. Health Promotion Plan on Substance Abuse No. Plan Intervention Rationale Evaluation 1 Develop a presentation and necessary literature to be distributed among the students Perform research. Gather relevant facts. Compile them and print them. To develop a lecture for the students and a hardcopy of the lecture for further information. Developed presentation and literature for distribution. 2 Take permission from the principal of the targeted school. Write a request to the principal and conduct a personal meeting to make him/ her aware of the agenda. Acquire permission. Receiving permission to conduct the presentation. 3 Acquire details of the timing and location of the workshop and also details related to the number of students expected to be present in the presentation. Contact the administration of the school, acquire information regarding attendees of the workshop and arrange the venue i.e. arranging projector and other necessary supplies required. Have necessary arrangements made in relation to the number of students attending the presentation. All the details of the attendees including name, class names, contact details etc. have been received and arrangements related to presentation and venue, are completed. 4 Get the literature printed for the presentation. Students will be given questionnaires after presentation to evaluate their understanding regarding substance abuse. Give the soft copies of presentation and questionnaires to school administration for printing. Printed copies of presentations are for students to review later and questionnaires will help us evaluate if the students understood the rationale of this presentation. Outcomes of questionnaires indicated that students have understood the reasons of substance abuse and its present side effects and impact on future life. 6 Develop necessary literature and questionnaires for the parents of the students to develop an understanding of parenting styles’ importance and risks of substance abuse. Share the literature with the students and tell them to get it signed and filled by the parents. The form will not be extensive and is expected to gather parents’ views about school initiatives and also how this literature has benefited them and what are they planning to do in this regard. Perhaps two or three paragraphs long response will be sufficient. To gain support of parents and reduce the risk of students to fall for substance abuse. Number of signed forms with positive feedback will help in evaluating the effectiveness of the program. 5 Share the results of questionnaires with principal and academic counselor of the school. Send the results via emails to the principal and academic counselor in the form of a report. To make them aware of the progress of the presentation and how it has led to a positive change in the thought process of teenage students and their parents. Feedback of the principal will indicate if they perceive this attempt to be a healthy and successful practice. References American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. (2011), Teens: Alcohol and other drugs, Retrieved 14 November 2012 from http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/teens_alcohol_and_other_drugs Bahr, S.J. & Hoffmann, J.P. (2010), Parenting style, religiosity, peers, and adolescent heavy drinking. Journal of Studies on Alcohol & Drugs, 71(4): 539-543. bbc.co.uk. (2011), Parenting style strongly affects drinking, Demos says. Retrieved from 14 November 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14696975 Baumrind, D. (1991), The influence of parenting style on adolescent competence and substance use. Journal of Early Adolescence, 11(1): 56-95. Changalwa et al. (2012), The relationship between parenting styles and alcohol abuse among college students in Kenya, Greener Journal of Educational Research, 2 (2): 13-20. Heron et al. (2012), Patterns of alcohol use in early adolescence predict problem use at age 16. Alcohol and Alcoholism, pp. 1–9. Johnson, V. & Pandina, R. J. (1991), Effect of family on adolescent substance use, delinquency, and copying styles. American Journal of drug abuse, 17: 71-88. McVie, S. & Holmes, L. (2005), Family functioning and substance use at ages 12 to 17. The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, 9, Centre for Law and Society: The University of Edinburgh Njenga, F. (2005), Alcohol & You. Daily Nation, Nairobi: Nation Printers. Patock-Peckham, J.A. & Morgan-Lopez, A.A. (2007). College drinking behaviors: Mediational links between parenting styles, parental bonds, depression, and alcohol problems. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 21(3): 297-306. Read More