Iranian Journal of Rehabilitation Research in Nursing

Introduction: In recent years the drug abuse has been changed to a risky and complicated situation among young people with a high prevalence and popularity. Resiliency skills training is one of prevention strategies related to drug addiction which recently is taken into consideration. This study examines The effect of resiliency skills training on attitude toward substance abuse in secondary school students of Khorramabad-Iran.
Method: This study had a quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test and a control group conducted in the year 2012-2013 in two secondary schools of the city of Khorramabad, 120 students (60 girls and 60 boys) included in our study who randomly assigned to each groups. Data collected by the attitude toward substance abuse questionnaire in the two groups. Data analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired t-test, MANCOVA by SPSS software ver.16.
Results: The results showed that before intervention, no significant difference was existed between the cognitive, emotional, behavioral subscales and global scores in attitude toward substance abuse questionnaire in two groups (p>0/05). After resiliency skills training scores related to subscales of cognitive, emotional, behavioral, general attitude and overall score of the questionnaire in the intervention and control groups showed significant differences (p<0/001). MANCOVA analysis also showed that 78/6 percent of resulted changes in attitude toward substance abuse was due to resiliency skills training program.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that resiliency skills program had positive effects on students' attitude toward substance. With consideration of high vulnerability of adolescents related to addiction in the country, planning and conducting resiliency skills training programs to reduce the tendency for drug usage in young adults can be used as an effective strategy by health and social policy-makers.