Substance Abuse: How it affects teenagers in school

Substance Abuse: How it affects teenagers in school

Contents
Purpose of the Group.................................................................................................................... 3 How members would be obtained for the Group ....................................................................... 5 Meta Goals for the entire four session project ........................................................................... 6 Outline for each of the four sessions ........................................................................................... 6 Session 1: Ice-breaking session ................................................................................................ 6 Session 2: Ways to tackle problem of substance abuse ....................................................... 7 Session 3: Role that each of the members can play in tackling the problem of substance abuse. .......................................................................................................................................... 8 Session 4: Concluding session ............................................................................................... 9 References ...................................................................................................................................... 9

Substance Abuse: How it affects teenagers in school

Purpose of the Group
Substance abuse refers to any harmful use of any substance for altering moods. It is also called as drug abuse and refers to a sustained pattern of use of a drug in which the user consumes the drug in quantities which is not recommended by the medical professionals. (Banta C, 2005) It is the illicit drugs for purposes other than the ones for which they are recommended by the medical professionals. There are many substances which can be abused as they have the tendency to alter moods but are not drugs. There are also many other substances which can be abused and dont have any mood altering or any intoxicating properties like anabolic steroids. Substance abuse also leads to problems like impulse control.

Substance abuse can have many negative impacts on the mind of a teen. The effects can be addiction, fall in the teens memory and concentration and other mood disorders. The teens should be educated about the negative effects of drug abuse and should be discouraged from use of drugs. As the minds and bodies of teens are in the process of continuous development, drug can retard the development of teens brains (Boyd, C. J., McCabe, S. E., Cranford, J. A., & Young, A., 2006). The use of illegal drugs like cocaine, marijuana, heroin etc is equivalent to inhaling household chemicals. Such forms of drug abuse are extremely dangerous and cause harm to the development of teens brains (Caraco, 2004). It may even lead to brain damage or death of the teen.

The three broad classes of prescription drugs which are often abused by the teenagers are:

Painkillers: These classes of drugs are used for the treatment of pain and include drugs like Vicoden, Codeine etc.

Substance Abuse: How it affects teenagers in school

Depressants: These classes of drugs are used for the treatment of anxiety and other sleep
related disorders. This includes drugs like barbitures, Xanax etc.

Stimulants: These classes of drugs are used for the treatment of attention deficiency related
disorders and include drugs like Adderall, Dexedrine etc. Misuse of the prescription and over the counter medications is a grave problem among the teenagers. It is important that this problem is recognized promptly in order to control it effectively. Early interventions in the issue of substance abuse can substantially reduce the risks of addiction or negative impact on health or minimize the risk of death. The health status of people can change any time and they may suffer from illness or injuries. Hence, the prescription medication should be there in the household where they werent previously kept. Education is the key for preventing the consequences of the misuse of medication. School nurses can play a vital role in the control and prevention of drug abuse. They might be the first who recognize the problem first. Students tend to confide in the school nurses and hence they would be in a position to refer students with a suspected problem for treatment for drug abuse. They are the one of the most important sources of information not only for the students but also for the parents and teachers. Most of the school nurses realize the existence of a problem and are willing to take part in the management. To be able to effectively discharge their role, they need adequate

information on the status quo and tool required to educate others. This would act as a supplement to the toolkit that is available online which would contribute to the education resources of the school nurses and would help in facilitating their efforts in order to control and prevent the harmful effect of substance abuse in teens. This group would help in addressing the above issues by gaining valuable insights into the core of the problem.
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Substance Abuse: How it affects teenagers in school

How members would be obtained for the Group
For tackling with the problem of substance abuse, a group should be formed which would work for tackling the problem of substance abuse. The members of this group would consist of all the stakeholders in the substance abuse which includes the parents, the community members, the doctors, the local pharmacists and the school nurse. To entice these set of people to affiliate with this group, they have to be first convinced about the harmful effects of the substance abuse and how their contribution is instrumental in dealing with the problem of substance abuse. To effective convince the stakeholders, they have to be called in one place, may be in a town hall and an effective presentation should be given which would clearly state what the group is all about. The mission and vision of the group and how the members can help to achieve the objective of the group should be clearly communicated. There should be detailed and colorful brochures and flyers which would catch the attention of the people. Once the people are convinced about the proposition of the group, the written consent of the people interested should be taken. It has to be ensured that the members are genuinely interested in the cause of the group and are willing to give their full efforts to achieve the objectives of the group. The messages in all the communication media should be in sync so as to communicate a single consistent message to all its stakeholders. Also, it has to be ensured that the right choice of media is done so as to reach out to the prospective members and project the right image to the public. This would require a lot of strategizing of the approach of reaching out to the prospective members and also create a good public image for the group.

Substance Abuse: How it affects teenagers in school

Meta Goals for the entire four session project
The main goal of the entire project is to impart education to the teenagers on the topic of substance abuse and create awareness about methods to minimize the negative effects of substance abuse. One of the other important goals of the project is to also create awareness among the other stakeholders like the doctors, school nurses and the parents about the harmful effects of substance abuse and how they can contribute towards the elimination of substance abuse.

Outline for each of the four sessions

Session 1: Ice-breaking session

Objective
To acknowledge the participation of every member of the group and convince them that they are an important part of the group. To lay down the basic ground rule to ensure that the group participation is smooth. To create bonding within the group members. To communicate the objective of the group to all its members.

Structure Of the session

The first session would aim at communicating the objectives of the group to all its members and help the members know each other. For breaking the ice, each of the members would be asked to give a brief introduction of him or her and what are his/her expectations from the group. Each of
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Substance Abuse: How it affects teenagers in school

the members would be asked to provide a brief account of his/her understanding of the problem of substance abuse. After the introduction, some informative videos on substance abuse would be shown to provide an insight into the problems of substance abuse and how it is affecting the teenagers in the school. Focus should be on highlighting the vital statistics like percentage of teenagers affected from substance abuse, breakup of the causes of substance abuse etc.

Evaluation procedure for the session objective

At the end of the session, it has to checked whether the group objectives have been met or not. To check this, some of the members would be randomly called upon to share their views on the learnings from the session and would be asked to say the names of the some of the other group members.

Session 2: Ways to tackle problem of substance abuse

Objectives: To discuss the various ways to handle the problem of substance abuse and explore
the various prevention steps to counter the problem.

Structure of the session

After the first session, the members would be welcome back and told about the objectives of the second session. To achieve the objective of the session, the session would be organized in the form of an activity. To catch up the interest of the members, the activity would be organized in the form of a musical chair. When the music stops, the person who fails to occupy the chair would be asked to suggest three ways to tackle the problem of substance abuse. The inputs of would be collated in a big drawing sheet with colorful text.

Substance Abuse: How it affects teenagers in school

Evaluation procedure for the session objective
At the end of the activity, the list of suggestions would be discussed and other innovative ways of handling this problem would be discussed. Members who present solutions of tackling the problems which arent provided in the original list would be provided with some attractive gifts.

Session 3: Role that each of the members can play in tackling the problem of substance abuse.

Objectives: To explore how the members can contribute towards achieving the objective of
the group

Structure of the session

After the second session, the members would be welcome back and told about the objectives of the third session. In this session, the members would be required to do a role play. The members would be asked to assume that they are the leader of the group and would be asked to jot down the action items that they would take to achieve the objective of the group. After this is done, the members would be asked to suggest how each of the stakeholders can broaden their roles and responsibilities for effectively achieving the objective of the group.

Evaluation procedure for the session objective

To evaluate whether the members have fully understood their roles and responsibilities, they would be asked to depict their role in the form of a diagram clearly highlighting their responsibilities.

Substance Abuse: How it affects teenagers in school

Session 4: Concluding session

Objectives: To summarize the discussions of the three sessions and put in place some tangible
action items to be implemented.

Structure of the session

In this session, the summary of the discussions of the three sessions would be done. The steps to be taken for tackling the negative impact of substance abuse would be laid out based on the previous discussions. The roles and responsibilities of the members would be outlined based on previous discussions and a time frame would be decided based on the consensus for achieving the objectives of the group.

Evaluation procedure for the session objective

To ensure that the members have understood the importance of the sessions, each of the members would be asked to summarize their learnings from the sessions. They would be asked to compare their level of understanding before attending the session and after attending the sessions.

References

1. American Academy of Pediatrics. (2003). Guidelines for the administration of medication in school. Committee on School Health. Pediatrics, 112(3 Pt 1), 697-699.

2. Banta, C. (2005). Trading for a high [Electronic Version]. Time, 166. Retrieved January 22, 2008 from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1086173,00.html.
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Substance Abuse: How it affects teenagers in school

3. Boyd, C. J., McCabe, S. E., Cranford, J. A., & Young, A. (2006). Adolescents motivations to abuse prescription medications. Pediatrics, 118(6), 2472-2480.

4. Caraco, Y. (2004). Genes and the response to drugs. New England Journal of Medicine, 351(27), 2867-2869.

5. CASA. (2005). Under the counter: The diversion and abuse of controlled prescription drugs. Retrieved September 19, 2007, from http://www. medpagetoday.com/Psychiatry/Addictions/tb1/1322?pfc=101&spc=235

6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2007). Unintentional poisoning deaths-United States, 1999-2004. MMWR Morbity and Mortality Weekly Report, 56(5), 93-96.

7. Cheng, T. L., Wright, J. L., Pearson-Fields, A. S., & Brenner, R. A. (2006). The spectrum of intoxication and poisonings among adolescents: surveillance in an urban population. Injury Prevention, 12(2), 129-132.

8. Cullen, G., Kelly, E., & Murray, F. E. (2006). Patients knowledge of adverse reactions to current

9. Parents: The Anti-Drug. (2006). Prescription drug abuse. Retrieved January 28, 2008, from http://www.theantidrug.com/drug_info/prescription_drugs.asp\

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Substance Abuse: How it affects teenagers in school

10. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2008, January 10). New study reveals more than 3 million adolescents and young adults have used nonprescription cough and cold medicine to get high at least once in their lifetimes. Retrieved March 1, 2008, from http://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/advisories/0801091855.aspx

11. Teen Drug Abuse. (2008). Over-the-counter drug abuse. Retrieved January 21, 2008, from http://www.teendrugabuse.us/over_the_counter_drug_abuse.html

12. Teenage Research Unlimited. (2006). Research findings: underage alcohol access & consumption. Internet, phone, and mail. Retrieved September 18, 2007, from http://www.wswa.org/public/media/tru-research/TRUSurvey080206.pdf

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