Performance of Peer Oriented Activities on Prevalence, Knowledge and Attitude towards Substance Abuse Among Secondary School Students in Machakos County
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Date
2018-10
Authors
Kyunguti, Gerald Muema
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Abstract
Substance abuse is a problem to many people across the world. Programs and activities
have been put in place to fight drug and substance abuse in schools. The Ministry of
Education through the report of the presidential party in education and manpower training
for the next decade and beyond and the Commission of inquiry on the education system
of Kenya recommended that peer counseling services be established in all educational
institutions. Peer counseling was therefore integrated in guidance and counseling
programs as a remedy for students with different problems including drug and alcohol
abuse. In spite of these efforts, alcohol and drug abuse is still rampant among secondary
school students in Kenya. The study sought to determine the effects of peer oriented
activities on attitude, knowledge and prevalence of substance abuse among secondary
school students in Machakos County. The specific objectives were to determine the peer
oriented activities used to change attitude, provide knowledge and reduce prevalence of
Substance Abuse among secondary school students in Machakos County. It also
determined if there was a significant difference in prevalence, knowledge and attitude on
substance abuse between students in schools with peer oriented activities and those in
schools without such activities. The Theory of Planned Behavior by Ajzen formed the
theoretical basis of the study. The study used an Ex post Facto design to determine the
performance of peer oriented activities. The sample size was obtained from a population
of 17000 students and 31 public secondary schools in the sub county. Stratified,
systematic and simple random sampling were used to select 14 schools, 225 students, 14
teachers and 72 Peer counselors to participate in the study. Data was collected using three
sets of questionnaires, for students, peer counselors and guidance and counseling
teachers. Percentages, frequency Tables and bar graphs were used to present data. The
stated hypotheses were tested using the t-test. The study found out that small group
presentations were the main activities used by peer counselors in their practice. Other
activities like individual counseling, role modeling, play performance; befriending and
outreach programs were used by less than 20% of peer counselors. The study found out
that there was no significant difference in, knowledge, attitude and prevalence of
Substance abuse between students in schools with peer oriented activities and schools
without peer oriented activities at a significant level of 0.05. The p value for knowledge
was 0.9685, attitude 0.954 and prevalence 0.892. The study concludes that peer oriented
activities do not have effects on knowledge, attitude and prevalence of alcohol and drug
abuse in Machakos County. The study recommends that peer counselors need to be
trained on substance abuse prevention and that a curriculum should be developed to teach
students about alcohol and drug abuse.
Description
A Research Report Submitted to the School of Humanities
and Social Sciences in Partial Fulfilment of the
Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of
Arts (Counseling Psychology) of Kenyatta University. Oct 2 018