Citation

Schupmann W, Riva K, Mphele S, Moshashane N, Matesva M, Lowenthal E. Int. J. School Health 2018; 5(4): e82879.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Health Policy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences)

DOI

10.5812/intjsh.82879

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Increased rates of alcohol and drugs abuse has been noted among secondary school students in Botswana.

Objectives: We conducted nine student focus groups to elicit motivations for substance use as well as risk and mitigating factors.

Methods: Participants were purposely sampled from among 2,227 secondary school students surveyed regarding drug/alcohol use in secondary schools. Students were selected for focus group participation based on their scores on the alcohol use and dependency inventory tool (AUDIT) and self-reported risk factors for alcohol/drug use.

Results: Students reported that alcohol/drugs are readily available at school and at home. A prominent theme among substance users was inadequate support from parents, who they describe as uncomfortable and unwilling to talk about common issues faced during adolescence, including alcohol/drug use.

Conclusions: We identified opportunities to improve the current situation such as renewing efforts to restrict alcohol availability and focusing on parent-child communication interventions.

Keywords: Africa; Botswana; Alcohol; Drugs; Adolescents; Student; Support Protection
Copyright © 2018, International Journal of School Health. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just in noncommercial usages, provided the original work is properly cited.

Language: en