Effects of a Peer-led Educational Intervention Based on Theory of Planned Behavior on Substance Use Intentions and Behaviors Among Secondary School Students of Dessie and Kombolcha Town, Northeast Ethiopia.

Effects of a Peer-led Educational Intervention Based on Theory of Planned Behavior on Substance Use Intentions and Behaviors Among Secondary School Students of Dessie and Kombolcha Town, Northeast Ethiopia: a Quasi- Experimental Study

This study aims to measure the effects of a per-led educational intervention based on theory of planned behavior to reduce tobacco, alcohol and khat use and intention to use among secondary school students over 3-months of follow-up in Dessie and Kombolcha town, Northeast Ethiopia.

This study aims to measure the effects of a per-led educational intervention based on theory of planned behavior to reduce tobacco, alcohol and khat use and intention to use among secondary school students over 3-months of follow-up in Dessie and Kombolcha town, Northeast Ethiopia.A quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group pretest-post-test design will be carried out among secondary school students of Dessie and Kombolcha Town from April to August, 2021. Individuals/Students/ in those selected schools will be allocated as intervention and control group purposively. The study will include 748 students from two secondary schools for the intervention group and another 748 students for the control group from other two secondary schools. The per-educational intervention will be planned based on results of the elicitation and TPB constructs and will be implemented on the experimental group for three months. Both experimental and control groups will be followed up after three months of educational intervention using the same tools and methods on same participants interviewed in pretest survey. Primary outcomes are substance(Cigarette,alcohol and Khat) use intention and behavior. Secondary outcome are attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control over substance(Cigarette,alcohol and Khat) use. Self-administered questionnaire based on TPB constructs will be used to collect the baseline and follow up data. In-depth interviews will be employed to explore the salient beliefs about substance use. The data will be analyzed using SPSS statistical software package version 20 using appropriate statistical tests including paired t-test, independent t-tests, McNemar and multivariate logistic regression analysis. All statistical tests will be carried out using two tailed tests with alpha set at 0.05. Information from the interviews will be transcribed verbatim, analyzed, and coded thematically.

Inclusion Criteria:

• All Grade 9-12 students, both girls and boys with any substance use experience (non-user, current user, and ever users) (aged 15-24 years) attending the four secondary schools of Dessie and Kombolcha town are eligible.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Grade 9-12 students who are not wanting to attend the evaluation and not able to have a follow- up will be excluded from the study.