effectiveness of drug abuse preventative intervention among iranian medical college students based on the theory of planned behavior

aims: drug abuse among college students continues as a major public-health concern. theory-driven research is necessary to address and find causes. the current research investigates the utility of theory of planned behavior (tpb) in designing and implementing a drug abuse educational prevention program among medical college students. methods: this quasi-experimental study was conducted among 120 college students in two groups: experimental and control, who were randomly enrolled at the baseline survey. we used a questionnaire, which included three sections of background data (11 questions), knowledge about the side effects of drug abuse questionnaire (16 questions), and tpb-based questionnaire (20 questions). educational planning was based on active learning with using group discussion, printed leaflet, and audio-visual cd. the participants were followed up after 2-month intervention. data were analyzed by the spss software version 16 using appropriate statistical tests such as stepwise multiple logistic regressions and t-test. findings: almost 6.7% of the participants had a history of drug abuse. the three predictors of 1) attitude, 2) subjective norms, and 3) perceived behavioral control accounted for 48 % of the variation in the outcome measure of the intention to drug abuse. there was a significant improvement in average response for knowledge about the side effects of drug abuse and tpb variables among the students who were under intervention (p < 0.05). conclusions: designing intervention to reduce positive attitude and subjective norms toward drug abuse among college students could be useful to substance abuse prevention.