Effect of Educational Intervention Based on Health Belief Model on Prevention of Substance Abuse Among the Students of Khatam Al-Nabieen University in Afghanistan

Background: Addiction in Afghanistan, as the largest opium producer in the world, is relatively high, and limited studies have indicated that the youth, especially students are the majority of the addicted cases in this country. Objectives: This quasi-experimental study aimed at designing and evaluating the effect of educational intervention based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) on drug abuse prevention among the students of Khatam Al-Nabieen University in Afghanistan. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 120 students of Khatam Al-Nabieen University residing in Ghazni city, Afghanistan, were randomly divided into two groups of the intervention and control (60 students per group). The HBM-based educational intervention was performed for the intervention group. The data in both groups were collected and evaluated at four time points, including before intervention, and immediately, 3, and 6 months after the intervention using a valid researcher-made questionnaire. Results: Although there was no significant difference between the mean score of the HBM constructs (P > 0.05) before the intervention, the results of repeated measures ANOVA showed significant differences in the intervention group in HBM constructs and also intention toward substance abuse preventive behavior (P < 0.001). There were significant inter- and intra-group differences, as well as the group-time interaction in allHBMconstructs mean scores (P < 0.001). Also, as the valuable finding, the preventive behavioral intention significantly (P < 0.001) improved following a 3- and 6-month follow-up in the intervention group (17.63 +/- 1.34 and 17.66 +/- 1.42, respectively) compared with the control group (10.95 +/- 1.33 and 10.87 +/- 1.22, respectively). Conclusions: The results showed that the HBM-based educational program by preventing substance abuse can help students adopt proper behaviors.