Impact of a peer-led educational program on knowledge and attitudes about prevention of substance abuse among Lebanese/Armenian adolescents

Session presented on: Tuesday, July 23, 2013: Purpose: to evaluate the extent to which participation in a peer-led educational program about substance abuse produces changes in knowledge and attitudes among Lebanese/Armenian adolescents. Methods: A quasi-experimental study. A convenient sample of 134 high school students, from two Armenian high schools in Beirut were recruited. Design: Pretest-posttest; students completed a questionnaire before and one week after an educational program implemented by two peer-educators, who had participated in a \u27training-trainees\u27 project about prevention of substance abuse. The educational program provided students with knowledge and skills to resist social influences to engage in substance abuse. A variety of teaching-learning tools were used. SPSS version 16 was used. Overall knowledge and attitude scores were created, as well as knowledge sub-scores and attitude scales for pro-smoking, pro-drinking, pro-marijuana, and pro-hard drugs. Pretest-posttest results were compared using paired t-test to evaluate the impact of the program. Results: Knowledge about drugs improved significantly (p=0.005) between the pre-post test. Overall mean positive attitude towards tobacco and drugs decreased significantly (p=0.010). Pro-attitude towards smoking, alcohol drinking and hard drugs decreased significantly in the post test (p=0.004). Similarly, the drug refusal skills improved significantly (p=0.028). Conclusion: Continue peer-led preventive programs focusing on building confidence, interpersonal competence and drug refusal skills

Training trainees, young activists, to conduct awareness campaigns about prevention of substance abuse among Lebanese/Armenian young people

Alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (ATOD) abuse and addiction are serious problems among Lebanese youth. Peer education on ATOD abuse in several settings has been found to be an effective way of prevention. This paper describes a collaborative project which trained 30 young activists to lead awareness campaigns in the Lebanon about ATOD abuse and healthy alternatives for relieving stress. The project was initiated by the Armenian Relief Cross in Lebanon (ARCL), funded by the Oxfam Canadian Fund for Social Development and implemented in collaboration with stakeholders in the Armenian community and Oum El Nour organization. Following training, the activists offered awareness sessions to a total audience of 5200:1250 secondary students, 50 university students, 1050 scouts, 300 working adolescents, 50 policemen and 2500 parents. Workshop objectives were met and awareness campaigns evaluated positively by the activists, parents of young people, ARCL and other stakeholders: leaders of Armenian institutions dealing with adolescents and the mayor of Bourj Hammoud. Resource constraints precluded seeking feedback from the young people who participated. Collaboration was deemed to have enhanced the capacity of ARCL, Oum El Nour, and the stakeholders in training young trainees to offer awareness campaigns. The author recommends continuing the project; offering another workshop to support the trainees and building in ways to evaluate the impact of the awareness campaigns on knowledge, attitude and behaviors of the young people taking part. To this effect, evaluation of the impact of the awareness campaigns is already started among school students with the use of control/comparison group design

Effectiveness of an educational intervention on palliative care for registered nurses in Lebanon

Purpose: Assess effectiveness of educational intervention, adapted from End of Life Care Curriculum for nurses. Method: Quasi experimental pre-post-test. Assessment: 34 multiple choice questions. Results: Mean pretest score 48.53 (SD = 9.23), post- test 70.05 (SD = 12). Significant increase between pre-post-test scores (p \u3c 0.001). Replicate study

Effectiveness of an Educational Workshop on Palliative Care Knowledge in Lebanese Nurses

Background: Lebanon is one of the world’s smallest countries, with an area of 10,452 square kilometers. Life expectancy in Lebanon presently stands at about 76.6 years for men and 79.3 years for women. It is well known that with long life comes chronic disease, serious illness, and increased resource utilization. With a rapidly aging population and ever-increasing life expectancy, an increase in illnesses that affect the elderly is expected to follow, including non-communicable diseases and cancer. Nurses are the largest workforce in Lebanon and are thus in a prominent position to influence the quality of palliative care (PC) delivery throughout the course of illness. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of an educational workshop on PC knowledge, attitude, and skills for practicing nurses at a Lebanese university medical center. Design: A mixed-method approach comprising a quasi-experimental and a qualitative process evaluation was followed to assess the nurses’ knowledge, attitude, and skills about PC before and after the workshop and to evaluate the process itself. A convenience sample of 45 registered nurses working at the university medical center from multiple clinical units participated in the workshop that took place over one day in a referral medical center in Beirut. Inferential statistical analysis was used. Results: Data were analyzed using SPSS 25 for Windows. The paired t test showed a significant increase between the pre-and post-test scores t (39) = 11.07, p < 0.001 with a 95% confidence interval for the mean difference of (17.58–25.45). Thirty-eight participants (90.5%) did not pass the pre-test exam whereas only 12 participants (30.0%) did not pass the post-test exam. Recommendations: It is highly recommended to follow up with the participants of this workshop to determine the immediate and long-term outcomes of this educational workshop as well as offer workshops for a wider population of nurses in Lebanon and the region. ª Myrna A.A. Doumit et al