Effectiveness of the "mental health facilitators" BLOOM's model based communication strategy on parents skills of preventing drug abuse among their children

Abstract

Background: Today, drug abuse as a common phenomenon has been regarded to be one of the important social problems. Programs effectiveness could heighten by cooperation in preventive interventions while identifying local factors and also by the application of best perspectives by having in mind experts' ideas and administrating them through people’s participations. Therefore, the present study has been carried out to evaluate the effect of interventional training by mental health facilitators (MHF) regarding the promotion of parents’ skills. Methods: The study was designed in the form of interventional methodology with case and control groups/pre-test and post-test. Based to Better Life Options and Opportunities Model (BLOOM), seven mental health facilitators from city of Marand, East Azerbaijan were selected. In order to instruct the facilitators, various communicative orientations were used. Then, based on inclusion criteria and multistage sampling, 150 qualified Mothers’ were recruited. The ideas which obtained from parents who had children aged 12-18, addiction prevention field experts and MHFs were analysed to produce educational needs and contents materials. Mothers’knowledge about preventive skills of addiction was scrutinized by researcher’s designed questionnaire and Mothers’ Attitudes about drug abuse was scrutinized by MacMilan questionnaire and Self- efficiency of Parents was scrutinized by Sherer questionnaire and throughout interviews. Content validity of the applied questionnaire has been assessed and approved. Reliability of the instrument was also examined using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α=0.70). Six instructive, communicative oral sessions and interviews lasting for two hour were held by facilitators for case group. After two month, the knowledge of both groups was assessed by the same questionnaire. Obtained data were analysed by Independent Samples t- tests, and Paired t-test. Results: It was confirmed that there was a meaningful difference regarding the average of Mothers’ knowledge about drug abuse, addiction prevention approaches, supportive and controlling skills, Attitudes and Self- efficiency of Mothers’among both control and intervention groups before and after intervention (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Based on BLOOM, the participation of mental health facilitators can promote Mothers’ skills about the prevention of their children from drugs abuse.