Psychosocial and health aspects of drug use by students in public secondary schools in Nairobi, Kenya.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of family, psychosocial, health, demographic, and behavioral characteristics on regular drug use. All the students of 17 randomly stratified public secondary schools in Nairobi were required to complete self-administered sociodemographic and the Drug Use Screening Inventory-Revised (DUSI-R) questionnaires in a cross-sectional descriptive study. All the 1328 students, of whom 58.9% were male, responded to all the questions, giving a response rate of 100%. The mean age of the respondents was 16 years and 78.1% were in boarding school. One third (33.9%) scored positively for substance abuse. Significant correlations were found between several domains of substance abuse and school, class, mode of school attendance, age, and gender. Students abusing drugs have multiple comorbidity of medical, psychological, and social pathologies. There are evidence-based intervention entry points for drug abuse that go beyond mere impartation on knowledge about the harmful effects of drugs.
Ndetei
David M
DM
Africa Mental Health Foundation (AMHF), University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya. dmndeteij@mentalhealthafrica.com
Khasakhala
Lincoln I
LI
Mutiso
Victoria
V
Ongecha-Owuor
Francisca A
FA
Kokonya
Donald A
DA
D000041:Absenteeism; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007630:Kenya; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012737:Sex Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult