Preventing Teen Substance Abuse: Teacher Perspectives Study

Introduction

To understand an effective way to prevent substance abuse among youth, it is important to explore the perspectives of stakeholders and individuals who play a role in applying preventive strategies. For that reason, this study uses a qualitative design to explore high school teachers' perspectives on successful teen substance abuse prevention programs. This paper discusses the background of the problem, provides a problem statement, purpose statement, and research question, and reviews literature pertaining to theory, research, and methodology. An annotated bibliography is included at the end.

Background to the Problem

As Murthy (2016) points out, there is a serious need to address the opioid epidemic that is afflicting the nation today. Youths are among the most vulnerable populations when it comes to substance abuse, because they are most likely to be affected by peer pressure and media portrayals in which drug use is frequently depicted in an unfavorable light (Bandura, 2018). There is clearly a pressing need to address this issue, as the epidemic is only worsening as teens turn to synthetic substances obtained on the streets (Murthy, 2016).

Problem Statement and Purpose

Problem Statement

To address the problem of preventing substance abuse among teens, it is necessary to know which strategies and interventions work best. However, it is generally unknown what teachers' perspectives are with respect to implementing effective and successful teen substance abuse prevention programs (Hicham et al., 2018). Thus, there is a need to understand this important stakeholder population's perspective in order to address the issue before the epidemic of drug abuse takes an even greater toll on the nation's youth.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this qualitative study is to interview teachers who have experience with substance abuse prevention programs for teens. The aim is to obtain information about what they believe to be effective and ineffective strategies. By interviewing these teachers, a deeper understanding of what teachers believe to be impactful can be obtained and then applied in the development of a new prevention program to address the problem.

Research Question and Theoretical Framework

The research question for this qualitative study is: What are the perspectives of high school teachers toward successful teen substance abuse prevention programs?

Literature Review

Research

The study by Hicham et al. (2018) focused on multilevel prevention initiatives among youth in their teenage years and examined how stakeholders ought to address influencing factors ranging from the individual adolescent to society at large. The recommended approach incorporates societal values together with government plans for managing negative substance use. The article also promoted the idea that public health education programs should be incorporated as part of the national curriculum, which can encourage awareness among adolescents and thereby substantially reduce behavioral risk in Moroccan adolescents. The logical next step for learning about this subject is to hear directly from teachers themselves, which is precisely what this study aims to accomplish through interviews.

Theory

The study by Das, Salam, Arshad, Finkelstein, and Bhutta (2016) demonstrates that school-based interventions, family-based interventions, and mass media-based interventions can all be effective in lowering rates of unhealthy behavior among teens. The researchers conducted a systematic review to obtain these findings. A gap the study identified that still needs to be closed concerns specific intervention components—such as delivery platforms (digital vs. non-digital, social media vs. traditional media, and so on). This study will seek to close that gap by asking teachers about their perspectives on delivery platforms. The broader theoretical framing draws on Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 2018), which holds that adolescent behavior is shaped by observational learning, social norms, and environmental influences.

Methodology

In their article, Paglin and Room (1999) examine existing prevention programs designed to address substance use among teens. The authors first identify the trends and patterns found across the available literature on these programs. They found evidence of prevention approaches based on Education and Persuasion techniques, Community-Based approaches, Legal Practices, and a Harm Reduction focus. The authors suggest that a multi-pronged approach is more likely to succeed than a single-method prevention program. In other words, a program should combine features—though the authors note there is a gap in the evidence available to support this recommendation. This study, which focuses on interviewing teachers to obtain their perspective, could help fill that gap by asking questions about whether they find single-pronged or multi-pronged approaches to be more effective.