Previously submitted to: JMIR Research Protocols (no longer under consideration since Feb 06, 2025)
Date Submitted: Dec 23, 2023
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of the 'Pa SU no Ndém' School-Based Drug Prevention Program: protocol of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial among Secondary School Students in Douala, Cameroon
ABSTRACT
Background:
Psychoactive substance use (PaSU) is a major global public health concern, contributing significantly to global morbidity and mortality. This study addresses this pressing issue with a focus on Cameroon, where PaSU poses significant challenges, especially among the secondary student communities.
Objective:
To evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based Psychoactive substance use prevention program in Cameroon, named the "Pa SU no Ndém" program which aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the "Pa SU no Ndém" program in delaying the initiation of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and glue consumption among secondary school adolescents in Cameroon. The study addresses the issue of a lack of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) assessing the effectiveness of school-based substance use prevention programs in the country.
Methods:
A cluster-randomized controlled trial will be conducted in two public bilingual schools in Douala, Cameroon randomly allocated to either the intervention or control group. The intervention group will receive the "Pa SU no Ndém" health educative program package. The "Pa SU no Ndém" program, which comprises five educative modules, will be implemented and compared to the standard Cameroonian curriculum citizenship education program. The study involves a double screening, pre-and post-test, assessing the types and frequency of psychoactive substances used and the impact of the study on the participants.
Results:
The intervention will occur from September 2022 to March 2023, with midline and end-line data collected at four and six months. Using a 1:1 random allocation, eligible participants will include adolescents aged 12 to 18 from selected bilingual schools in the Wouri division. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test and analysis of variance for comparing groups will be used for primary and secondary outcome variables. A chi-square test will be applied to analyse the categorized variables and p-values rounding up to 02 decimal places will be used to display the results.
Conclusions:
The study aims to contribute valuable insights into the replicability of substance use prevention programs in different school settings in Cameroon. By assessing the impact of the "Pa SU no Ndém" program, we seek to provide evidence-based strategies for addressing the critical issue of rising drug use among secondary school students in the country. Clinical Trial: PACTR202208683564666
Citation
