| dc.description.abstract | Illegal substance use among adolescent learners is a major global concern for government policy-makers, researchers and mental health care practitioners. The consequences of illegal substance use among adolescent learners include negative social, health and behavioural consequences including mental and physical health problems, violence and aggressive behaviour. The purpose of this research was to develop and validate an illegal substance use prevention programme for adolescent learners in the North West Province of South Africa. An intervention research design was followed to address the research problem. The design involved four phases, namely problem analysis and planning, information gathering and synthesis, design as well as early development and validation.
Phase one included an overview of the research which consists of introduction, background, problem statement, research purpose and objectives, central theoretical argument, definition of main concepts as well as a brief description of the research methodology. Phase two included two stages namely a systematic review and a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual approach. In stage one, a systematic review was done to explore and describe current evidence on substance use prevention programmes among adolescents, focusing on resilience as a protective factor. In stage two, a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual approach was followed to explore stakeholders’ perceptions of resilience as a protective factor in illegal substance use prevention programme for adolescent learners and their perceptions of how illegal substance use can be prevented among adolescent learners by focusing on resilience as a protective factor in the North West Province of South Africa. Phase three included the design of a conceptual framework for the programme. A survey list of the Practice Oriented Theory of Dickoff, James and Wiedenbach as well as Mouton and Marais’ characteristics of precursive theoretical models were used as a guide for deducing the conceptual framework. Phase four comprised the development and validation of the proposed programme. Information from the first three phases was used to develop the programme. The findings of this thesis confirmed the content of the programme, and indicated that the programme should focus on strengthening adolescents’ resilience and on mobilising protective factors. Experts in mental health and substance use disorders as well as adolescent learners validated the programme. Both experts and adolescent learners indicated that the programme is clear, simple, general, accessible and important. The programme contributes important information to the field of psychiatry and mental health. Recommendations were made for implementation of the programme. | en_US |
