Educator's knowledge of the factors contributing to substance use among secondary school learners in Greater Giyani Municipality, Limpopo Province

Abstract

Globally, substance use is a significant public health problem around the world. Many schools encounter the challenge of learners using substances in and outside of the school premises. This problem affects the education system because learners who use substances display behaviours that negatively affect the quality of learning and teaching. The study aimed to determine the educators’ knowledge of the factors contributing to substance use among secondary school learners in Greater Giyani Municipality, Limpopo Province. A descriptive research design was employed, and the participants were selected using purposive sampling. Data was collected utilising a structured questionnaire and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 programme. The study findings show substance use as a significant public health problem in schools. Some of the factors identified that contributed to substance use among learners by most educators were low-self-esteem, poor self-control, depression, meagre finances, academic environment, background, peer pressure, accessibility and availability of substances. Based on the findings a number of recommendations were made such as capacitating parents on parenting skills and also on strategies to assist teachers to fight against substance use by students. Instead of the media only displaying lucrative advertisements of alcohol, it must also provide education and awareness about substance use/abuse and its consequences. Further research is necessary to investigate learners’ and parents’ knowledge of the factors contributing to substance use.