RESEARCH FINDINGS FROM AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT UPDATE UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE SCIENCES
Pharma Business Week
March 15, 2010
Researchers detail in ‘Training trainees, young activists, to
conduct awareness campaigns about prevention of substance abuse among
Lebanese/Armenian young people,’ new data in life sciences. "Alcohol,
tobacco and other drugs (ATOD) abuse and addiction are serious
problems among Lebanese youth. Peer education on ATOD abuse in
several settings has been found to be an effective way of prevention,"
scientists writing in the Journal of Interprofessional Care report
(see also Life Sciences).
"This paper describes a collaborative project which trained 30
young activists to lead awareness campaigns in the Lebanon about
ATOD abuse and healthy alternatives for relieving stress. The
project was initiated by the Armenian Relief Cross in Lebanon
(ARCL), funded by the Oxfam Canadian Fund for Social Development
and implemented in collaboration with stakeholders in the Armenian
community and Oum El Nour organization. Following training, the
activists offered awareness sessions to a total audience of 5200:1250
secondary students, 50 university students, 1050 scouts, 300 working
adolescents, 50 policemen and 2500 parents. Workshop objectives were
met and awareness campaigns evaluated positively by the activists,
parents of young people, ARCL and other stakeholders: leaders of
Armenian institutions dealing with adolescents and the mayor of Bourj
Hammoud. Resource constraints precluded seeking feedback from the young
people who participated. Collaboration was deemed to have enhanced the
capacity of ARCL, Oum El Nour, and the stakeholders in training young
trainees to offer awareness campaigns. The author recommends continuing
the project; offering another workshop to support the trainees and
building in ways to evaluate the impact of the awareness campaigns on
knowledge, attitude and behaviors of the young people taking part,"
wrote M. Arevian and colleagues, American University of Beirut.
The researchers concluded: "To this effect, evaluation of the impact
of the awareness campaigns is already started among school students
with the use of control/comparison group design."
Arevian and colleagues published their study in the Journal of
Interprofessional Care (Training trainees, young activists, to
conduct awareness campaigns about prevention of substance abuse among
Lebanese/Armenian young people. Journal of Interprofessional Care,
2010;24(2):173-82).
Additional information can be obtained by contacting M. Arevian,
American University of Beirut, School of Nursing, PO Box 11-0236,
Beirut, Lebanon.
The publisher of the Journal of Interprofessional Care can be contacted
at: Taylor & Francis Group Ltd, 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon,
Oxford OX14 4RN United Kingdom.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
