EFFECTIVENESS OF LIFE SKILLS TRAINING AND PROMOTING FAMILY ENVIRONMENT TO PREVENT YOUTH SUBSTANCE

Abstract

Substance abuse is the major health problem in Thailand, despite the local government
organization’s prevention program. Training in life skills development in combination with promoting family
environment has been found to effectively reduce the drug abuses in many countries. However, no study has
investigated this method in Thailand. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of life skills
training in combination with promoting a family environment to prevent youth drug abuse. A quasi-experimental
study was conducted from October 2014 to September 2015. Participants consisted of 969 youths from different
sub-districts were randomly allocated to either intervention arm (received the training in life skills development
and promoting family environment) or control arm (received the prevention program by local government
organization). Data were collected through self-report questionnaires in the period of 3 months and 6 months.
There were significant differences between the mean scores of family environment subscale; the p-value for cohesion
was <0.001, and p-value for conflict was 0.05. The proportion of new drug users was significantly lower in the
intervention group (mean difference 0.54, 95%CI: 0.009-0.1) but no significant difference in the proportion of
new drug users between the two groups at 6-months follow-up. Absolute risk reduction (ARR) of the
intervention group to reduce new drug abuse at the period of both 3 and 6 months was 0.54, the number needed
to harm was 18.4. The life skills training in combination with family environment promotion was effective for at
least 6 months to prevent drug abuse.