EFFECT OF REALITY THERAPY ON ADOLESCENTS' SUBSTANCE ABUSE BEHAVIOUR IN JUVENILE CORRECTIONAL CENTRES IN LAGOS STATE

Abstract

Substance abuse appears to be a public health concern around the world, due to its high prevalence and detrimental effect on human beings. It is very rampant among adolescents, as they tend to experiment on things a lot and are easily influenced by peers who indulge in substance abuse, reckless driving, and illicit sexual activities, among others. It is a patterned use of drugs in which the user consumes the substance in amounts or with methods that are harmful to themselves or others. The study examined the effect of reality therapy on the substance abuse behaviour of adolescents in juvenile correctional facilities in Lagos State. The study looked at how reality therapy and gender influence adolescent substance abuse behaviour in juvenile correctional facilities. The study adopted a quasi-experimental study of pre-test, post-test of two groups and control group research design, and the population consisted of 320 adolescent inmates in Lagos State's Juvenile Correctional Centres. The sample comprised of 190 adolescents who were purposively selected with self –Assessment Questionnaire on Substance Use (SAQSU) as having high incidence of substance abuse. Field data was collected using Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire-Adolescent (AEQ-A.) and Personal Data Card (PDC).Two research questions and two hypotheses were formulated and analyzed, using analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The findings show that there was no significant difference between male and female adolescents' substance abuse behaviour. Again reality therapy treatment and gender do not jointly have significant effect on adolescents' substance abuse behaviour. Based on the findings of the study, some recommendations were made which include that counsellors be equipped with new counselling skill and techniques, like reality therapy which could be used to train inmates in correctional centres, with a view to helping the inmates to become better adjusted individuals who can be reintegrated back into the society