Substance Abuse Prevention On Adolescents

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Substance Abuse Prevention in Adolescents Adolescence is the most common period of life in which both recreational and therapeutic drug use is introduced. Coincidentally, brain development and maturity is also at an all time high during this stage of life (2). When initiating the use of a therapeutic drug, the health care provider compares the risk to the benefit. If the benefit outweighs the risk, the drug is generally prescribed effectively. This process allows for the safe and applicable use of various medications. On the other hand, recreational drug use involves substance abuse without the supervision of a healthcare provider. Recreational drug use can prove extremely harmful and often leads to substance dependency.
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Family influence is another important factor to consider when looking at adolescent substance abuse. Parenting practices should be carefully constructed and conflict should be avoided at all costs. Harsh disciplinary action can lead to retaliation and further encourage adolescents to abuse various substances. On the contrary, poor parental monitoring and a lack of family bonding can lead to the adolescent looking for an escape, which in this case, would be substance abuse (1). As nurses, it’s important that we intervene before the adolescent becomes dependent on any selected substance. “Appropriate, early intervention may restore the normal course of an abnormal trajectory and reduce the likelihood of developing a substance use disorder (SUD) later in life” (2). Teaching adolescents about the negative effects of substance abuse can prevent initiation, dependency, and literally save their life. In this paper, I’ll develop a teaching plan for adolescents to discourage substance abuse. I’ll begin by further identifying the target population and the prevalence of the issue. I’ll then use the nursing process (Assessment, Diagnosis, Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation) to formulate this plan for the target audience, relying heavily on effective teaching styles for the chosen age group.
Target Audience and Prevalence Adolescence is a period of life consisting of change and
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