Training of health professionals and community leaders in techniques to promote demand reduction for drugs

ABSTRACT

The problem of drug and its associated harmful effects on the individuals, their families and the nation has received a great deal of attention during the past decade. Media campaigns, traditional or affective educational programmes and other alternate activities, designed to help individuals achieve total abstinence, or modify their pattern of use were rarely successful at influencing behaviour change. It may be due to unsound methodology used to carry out these intervention programmes. A multidimensional intervention programme involving teaching and training of health professionals together with selected communities, is therefore, suggested. Under this programme, a problem based methodology will be used to resolve the issue of drug abuse through the process of active learning. The major component of this methodology will be to develop techniques for training of health professionals in drug prevention. The trained health professionals in turn will train community leaders who will increase the community's competence to deal with drug abuse. Community leaders together with the support of Neuroscience, Adolescent Development and Drug Research Programme (NADRAP), University of the West Indies, Mona and other such institutes, will be expected to influence the knowledge and behaviour of the individuals in promoting demand reduction for drugs in Jamaica.(AU)