COMPARATIVE EFFICACY OF TWO COUNSELLING STRATEGIES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF ADOLESCENTS’ INCLINED TO DRUG ABUSE IN BENIN METROPOLIS, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the comparative efficacy of two counselling strategies in the management of adolescents’ inclined to drug abuse in Benin Metropolis, Nigeria. Two hypotheses were tested in the study. The study employed a pretest, post-test and control group randomized design. 500 senior secondary school students were sampled from the entire population of 2,496 senior secondary school students in Benin Land of Edo State. A questionnaire titled: Drug Use Questionnaire (DUQ) was used. Research question one was analysed using simple frequency counts, simple percentages, mean and standard deviations and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed that adolescents in Benin Metropolis was inclined to abuse drugs; there was difference between the two counselling strategies of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Motivational Enhancement Therapy and the Control Group in the management of adolescents inclined to drug abuse in Benin Metropolis and there was no significant difference between male and female adolescents using the two counselling strategies of CBT and MET in Benin Metropolis of Edo State, this clearly indicated that both treatments were not sex biased. Based on the findings of the study, the researchers recommends among others that counsellors posted to schools should be allowed to practice full time counselling so as to have more time for the students and carry out practical training skills on drug use and abuse on regular basis.