Substance abuse among teenagers in the Tshisaulu Community: challenges faced by parents

Abstract

Background:Alcohol, Dagga and other illegal substance abuse leads to impaired functioning in social and interpersonal spheres and withdrawal symptoms can be severe.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore the challenges faced by mothers parenting teenagers who abuse substances in Tshisaulu village.

Methodology: The study was qualitative in nature and was conducted at Tshisaulu village. The population was mothers raising teenagers from the age of 13 to 19 years who abuse substances such as alcohol tobacco and other substances. The study adopted non-probability sampling and convenience sampling to select participants. The records at the social worker' s office in Tshisaulu showed 11 cases of mothers complaining about their children abusing substances and all the reported cases were included in the study. The semi-structured interview was used to gather data from participants and the Tesch' s model of data analysis was used.

Results: Data showed that participants mentioned concerns oflate coming home by their children who have started abusing alcohol especially during weekends and sometimes they do not come back home at all. It was discovered that teenagers are engaging themselves in an unprotected sex after abusing substances. Some parents suffer from heart diseases as a result substance abuse by their children. Most participants stated that children are no longer attending school classes regularly and at times are caught smoking during class time in toilets. As a result their school performance bas dropped. It was reported that children no longer respect their teachers and other elderly family members.

Recommendation: Based on the research findings and conclusions of the study, the researcher proposed recommendations to the parents, to policy makers, department of social development, department of education as well as future researchers.