Valoración de un grupo de autoayuda en relación a psicoeducación para prevención de abuso de drogas en estudiantes del colegio Daniel Córdova Toral de Cuenca, Cuenca, abril de 2012

Abstract

Background: Drug abuse among high school students in Ecuador has not been sufficiently addressed, to prevent there are various techniques therapeutic, educational, social, individual, group, etc. This study proposes to determine the effectiveness of two psychoeducactional techniques in an urban high school in the city of Cuenca. Objective: Evaluate the effectiveness of a selfhelp group in relation to the psycho-education for drug abuse preventing in students of Daniel Cordova Toral High School 2011-2012 school year. Methods: Quasi-experimental study was divided into 2 groups of 45 students each: group A: psycho-education and group B: self-help group (SHG) directed by high school two fellows previously trained by the researcher. We measured the knowledge, attitudes and skills (KAS) before and after the intervention, through a questionnaire designed and validated for that purpose to measure the change caused by the intervention. They were used tests statistics: t test for related samples and the McNemar test for paired data obtaining the p value. Results:The average age of participants was 15.89 years, all male. The most used drug was ethyl alcohol. Psycho-education versus SHG KAS improved as follows: knowledge of 7.36 improved to 9.62 (CI -4.036 -, 497, p 0.013) compared to 5.87 improved to 6.73 (CI - 1.431 - 302, p .003), attitudes of 2.58 improved to 3.26 (CI -,062-2, 209, p 0.032) compared to 1.60 improved to 4.11 (CI -2.021 to 10.319, p 0000), the practices of 4.31 improved to 5.44 (CI,612-1, 309, p 0197) compared to 3.29 improved to 3.49 (CI, 353 -, 729, p 0470). Conclusions:We obtained statistically significant changes in: knowledge and attitudes in both groups participating. There were no statistically significant differences in relation to skills. The intervention with a self-help group directed by high fellows is more effective at drug abuse preventing compared to psycho-education. KEY WORDS:KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND SKILLS IN HEALTH, SELF-HELP GROUPS, EDUCATION GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPY, PREVENTION SUBSTANCE-RELATED DISORDERS, ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS.