DRUG EDUCATION AND MANAGEMENT OF PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCE USE AMONG INTRA-CITY COMMERCIAL DRIVERS IN IBADAN METROPOLIS, OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

High prevalence of Psychoactive Substance (PS) abuse among intra-city commercial drivers have grave social and health consequences on individua1ls, families and the society at large. The trend has been of major concern to government and other stakeholders. Previous studies have focused largely on prevalence, causative factors, prevention, consequences and rehabilitation using survey method with little emphasis on attitudinal transformation using educational intervention. Therefore, this study was designed to determine the effects of Drug Education (DE) on the management (knowledge, attitude and Abuse) of PS among intra-city commercial drivers in Ibadan metropolis, Oyo State, Nigeria. The moderating effects of educational level and age were also examined. Social Cognitive Theory provided the framework, while the pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design using 2x3x4 factorial matrix was adopted. Two (Ibadan North East and Ibadan North West) out of the five Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Ibadan metropolis were randomly selected, and assigned to DE (Ibadan North East - Aremo) and control (Ibadan North West - Idikan) groups. One hundred Intra-city commercial drivers who are registered with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and volunteered to participate in the study were selected based on equal allocation from the two NURTW branches: Aremo (50) and Idikan (50), respectively. The experimental group were screened using drug abuse screening test scale (DASTS). Treatment lasted eight weeks. Instrument used were instructional guides, PS Knowledge (r=0.87), Attitude to PS (r=0.82) and Abuse of Psychoactive Substances (APS) (r=0.84) scales. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Analysis of Covariance at 0.05 level of significance. Participants were male (100.0%) aged 47.4±8.8 years out of which 50% had evidence of substance abuse; their educational levels were: no formal education (9.0%), primary school certificate (61.0%) and senior secondary school certificate (30.0%). There were significant main effects of treatment on PS knowledge (F(1;80)=10.40; partial η2=0.12), attitude to PS (F(1;80)=5.54; partial η2=0.07) and APS (F(1;80)=5.82; partial η2=0.07). Participants in the DE obtained higher post - mean score in PS knowledge (20.73) than those in the control (15.95) group. The participants exposed to DE had better attitude towards psychoactive substances (28.98) than those in the control (21.53) group. Participants in the DE had higher post - mean score (21.53) than control (17.17) group. There was a significant main effect of educational level on knowledge of PS (F(2;80)=5.73; partial η2=0.13). The participants with primary school certificate had highest post mean score (23.21), followed by senior secondary school certificate with post means score (23.14) and no formal education with post mean score (19.62) respectively. There was no significant main effect of age on knowledge, attitude and APS. The two-way interaction effects were not significant. There was no significant three-way interaction effect on knowledge, attitude and APS. Drug education enhanced intra-city commercial drivers’ knowledge, foster positive attitude towards the psychoactive substances and also enhanced the participants’ decision to stop abuse of psychoactive substances. Drug education programme should be organised regularly for commercial drivers across all different ages and level of education especially for those with low level of education.