Drug abuse intervention amongst youths
Today, major health challenges facing youth are a result of unhealthy behaviors that normally commence during adolescence. Typically, the patterns of drug and substance abuse that emerge during adolescence are recognized as the determinant factors that contribute to later substance abuse and disorders associated with it. Unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, drinking and the use of illicit drugs normally begin at the adolescence stage which in turn leads to adulthood disorders. The increasing number of youths doing drugs and the negative impacts of drug and substance abuse to the youths and their families creates the need for interventions to be developed. These interventions aim at reducing the number of youths doing drugs and eradicating unhealthy behaviors.
One of the outstanding interventions is peer intervention. MacArthur et al. (2016) noted that peer intervention is effective in preventing drug and substance abuse such as smoking and drinking amongst adolescents. This kind of intervention is necessary for eradicating unhealthy behaviors which leads to negative health consequences amongst youths. Peer education has been employed to target the majority of youths doing drugs and there has been promising evidence from the existing interventions. Another exceptional intervention in the school-based intervention. According to Carney et al. (2016), a school-based intervention can be effective in reducing cannabis and alcohol use amongst youths and adolescents.
In measuring the validity and the effectiveness of interventions, the theory of change is normally applied. The theory of change normally offers guidance on the implementation approach and most importantly sets goals and reveals the prospective changes to be attained if an implementation is successful. All the actors involved in effecting an intervention must adhere to the Theory of change principles. The idea of preventing drug abuse amongst youths is related to college study because most of these youths are college students.