Knowledge and Psychoactive Substance Use among Adolescents in Selected Secondary Schools in South-West Ogun State, Nigeria

Psychoactive substance use is a global problem and the prevalence among secondary schools in Ogun state, Nigeria is increasing. Hence, the need to increase high school students' knowledge on the phenomenon. The paper aim to evaluate the effect of health knowledge on psychoactive substance use towards behavioural change. Quasi-experimental research design was adopted. 90 high school students were purposively selected from three high schools in three Senatorial Districts. The study comprised of 30 participants in each group; the control undergone routine high school curriculum while group 1 and 2 were exposed to psychoactive substance health knowledge interventions. Data were collected through a validated questionnaire and descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized. Findings revealed that a high statistical significant difference (pless than0.001) was observed between baseline and immediate post intervention in the knowledge of the participants across the groups. The study concluded that health knowledge affected intention to use psychoactive substances and recommended inclusion of psychoactive substance education in high school curriculum.