Alcohol and Substance Abuse in Secondary Schools in Botswana: The Need for Social Workers in the School System
Keywords:
Botswana, social work intervention, students, substance abuse, AlcoholAbstract
This study adopts the descriptive research design with the aim of exploring social work interventions on alcohol and substance use amongst secondary school students in Botswana. Three research questions are formulated to guide the study. The population is secondary schools in Maun community, which is located in the northern part of Botswana. Structured questionnaire is administered on 100 students. Statistical Package for Social Sciences is used to analyse the data. The result reveals that secondary school students are involved in alcohol and substance abuse, and that prevention in schools is a top priority in spite of the ineffectiveness of hitherto intervention programmes in the area. Consequent upon the finding of the study, social workers are needed in the school system in Botswana to help students experiencing many psychosocial problems resulting from drug and substance abuse, neglect, homelessness and many more. It is the conclusion of this work that social workers intervention would bring significant changes in the school systems on the basis that by nature of their work they intervene at individual, family and societal levels.
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