SOCIAL STUDIES

SCHOOL-BASED ASSESSMENT

Group Members: Denneish Salmon, Dantae Cobourne, Trishanna Williams, Tashoy Thomas,

Tamoya Brady

Centre Number: 100088

Candidate Numbers: 1000884179, 1000881064, 1000885183, 1000884748, 1000880513

Name of School: Old Harbour High

Name of Teacher: Mrs. Sherine Francis-Williams

Year of Exam: 2024

 TABLE OF CONTENT

Acknowledgement……………………………………………………………………………………………….1

Statement of the Problem………………………………………………………………………………………2

Reason for Selecting Topic…………………………………………………………………………………….3

Method of Investigation………………………………………………………………………………………..4

Data Collection Instrument………………………………………………………………………………….5

Substance Abuse Questionnaire……………………………………………………………………………6-7

Procedure Used to Collect Data……………………………………………………………………………8

Presentation of Data……………………………………………………………………………………………9-10

Analysis and Interpretation of Data…………………………………………………………………….11-12

Findings…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….13

Recommendations and Implementations…………………………………………………………….14-15

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………………16
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Firstly, we would like to thank our Social Studies teacher, Mrs. Sherine Francis - Williams in helping

me to complete this SBA in time. Without her extensive help and feedback, we may have not been

able to complete our SBA.

 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

What are some effects of substance abuse on individuals in a prominent high school in St.Catherine?

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are some of the reasons students indulge themselves in substance abuse?

2. How does substance abuse impact/ affect high school students?

3. What are some ways that substance abuse can be prevented in high schools?
 REASON FOR SELECTING TOPIC

Substance Abuse is the harmful or excessive use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and

illicit drugs.

The researchers have been a part of a prominent high school in St.Catherine and have observed

students abusing substances such as marijuana, vaping, molly pills, edibles, and alcohol. According to a

study done by the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA), it has been noted that these drugs are

easily accessible to students. This has caused several secondary school students to involve themselves in

indulging in substance abuse. The researchers are mainly concerned about this issue because they have

witnessed firsthand schoolmates and close friends involve themselves in the use of substances. They

would like to better understand the possible causes, effects, consequences, and ways that substance

abuse can be prevented to share the knowledge that they have attained while doing this investigation to

try and protect students from using substances.

 METHOD OF INVESTIGATION

To investigate the problem, the researchers have assembled an online questionnaire via Google

Forms to put together the relevant information for the survey.

According to

https://www.cint.com/blog/what-is-a-questionnaire-and-how-is-it-used-in-research, a

questionnaire is a research tool used to collect useful information from respondents.

A questionnaire as a tool for collecting data, has several advantages. Some advantages of a

questionnaire are:

● Easy and great way to collect information from many respondents at once.

● It is less time-consuming and the questionnaires can be filled out conveniently.

● Responses received are frank and anonymous

 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT

Dear respondents,

A group of researchers have prepared a questionnaire that serves as a medium to

determine the level and effects of substance abuse on students. This questionnaire is being done as a

school-based assignment that the researchers are undertaking. Emails and names aren’t being recorded

hence the respondent remains anonymous. There are twelve simple and easy closed-ended questions to

be answered. You are kindly being asked to answer the following questions accordingly.
 Substance Abuse Questionnaire

INSTRUCTION: Read each question carefully and place a simple tick in the box according
to your answer.

1. Sex
◯ Female ◯ Male

2. Age
◯ 12 - 14 ◯ 15 - 18

3. Grade
◯7-9 ◯ 10 - 11
◯ 12 - 13

4. Do you believe substance abuse is a recurring problem in your school?

◯ Yes ◯ No
◯ Maybe

5. How do you believe the use of substances affect students?

◯ Increase in self-confidence ◯ Anxiety and depression ◯ Addiction
◯ Difficulty in school ◯ Thoughts of Suicide

6. Why do you think students use substances?

◯ To relieve stress ◯ Peer Pressure ◯ Enjoyment/Fun
◯ Addiction

7. Which of these environments do you think causes students to begin abusing substances?
◯ The Household ◯ The School Environment

8. Does the use of drugs affect the health and well-being of students?
◯ Yes ◯ No

9. Which type of health do you think is mostly affected by the excessive use of substances?
◯ Physical Health ( high blood pressure, heart disease, liver disease )
◯ Mental Health ( depression, conduct problems, attempted suicide)
◯ Emotional Health ( anxiety, depression, loneliness, anger )

10. Do you think substance abuse by students is more likely to affect the family than parents
using substances?
◯ Yes ◯ No

11. Can substance abuse by students be prevented in schools?

◯ Yes ◯ No

12. Which solution would be more effective in preventing substance abuse?

◯ Drug Prevention programs in schools
◯ Teaching everyone about the causes and consequences of substance abuse through
the local tv network ( TVJ )
 PROCEDURE USED TO COLLECT DATA

A questionnaire was used via Google Forms to collect the data needed to complete this SBA. It had a

total of twelve multiple-choice questions. Since the school is of a huge population the researchers

decided to use a random sampling method. It was calculated that about 2% of the school population

of about 2,500 students received the instrument. The instrument was limited to a total of 25

responses and all the responses were randomly done, we did not specify a group of people to answer

the questionnaire and no names were collected from the repondents making all the responses

anonymous. The instrument was distributed and collected by the researchers via the Internet.
 PRESENTATION OF DATA

Why do you think students use substances?

To relieve stress 52%

Peer Pressure 32%

Enjoyment / Fun 12%

Addiction 4%

Figure 1.
Figure 2.

Figure 3.
 ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

The researchers have observed a significant number of students abusing substances, and to

further understand the reasoning behind this issue they decided to assess the topic, “What are some

effects of substance abuse on individuals in a prominent high school in St.Catherine?” for their SBA.

A questionnaire was published via Google Forms as a means of collecting the data to find the answers

to the topic and research questions.

The questionnaire was answered consistently by all 25 respondents. In Figure 1, the question

“Why do you think students use substances?” was placed in a table. In the data that was gathered, 52 %

of the respondents believe that students mainly use drugs to relieve stress. 32% of the respondents in
their opinion think that students abuse substances because of peer pressure, 12% chose the option

Enjoyment/ Fun, and a minor 4% believe that the reason students abuse substances is because they’re

addicted. This shows that a majority of students mainly use substances to relieve stress whether it be

from inside the household or their school environment.

In Figure 2, it shows how substance abuse may affect students. Unsurprisingly, the majority of

respondents, 36%, think that the constant use of substances by students affects their mental health by

causing anxiety and depression. The second most chosen option was addiction, 24% of the

respondents believe that students become addicts when they abuse substances. Difficulty in school and

an increase in self-confidence were both chosen by the same number of respondents, which is 16% and

8% of the respondents believe that students end up having suicidal thoughts from the use of

substances. In this analysis, the researchers would conclude that a majority of students' mental and

emotional health are the ones that are mainly affected negatively when the use of substances is

involved.

Figure 3, the question “ Which solution would be more effective in preventing substance

abuse?” was asked. Surprisingly a majority 68% of the respondents believed that the most efficient

solution to prevent substance abuse in schools and in the home would be by implementing Drug

Prevention programs in schools and the minority 32% of the respondents believe that teaching

everyone about the causes and consequences of substance abuse through the local tv network ( TVJ )

could be the solution to preventing students from abusing substances.

 FINDINGS

During the process of analyzing the data collected the researchers found that:

● Most students abuse substances because of the need to relieve stress, peer pressure or wanting
to have fun.
● Students when they indulge themselves in the use of substances are affected in many ways, they
end up having anxiety or depression, they have an increase in self-confidence, they have
difficulty in school or they become addicted.
● Students' mental and emotional health are also negatively affected. Students end up having
mental issues such as ADHD, depression, or suicidal thoughts. Not only is their mental health
 affected but also their emotional health since students are prone to feeling emotions of sadness,
loneliness, and anger after the use of substances.
● In finding solutions to be implemented by the school and the government they could either
have Drug Prevention programs in school or teach everyone including the guardians of
students, students and just the citizens or locals in general about the causes and consequences
of substance abuse through the local tv network ( TVJ ) could be a solution to preventing
students from abusing substances.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND IMPLEMENTATIONS

Substance abuse is known to only have negative effects on the users in the long run and to

prevent this from happening the researchers have thought of ways that both the government and

schools could implement to lower the risk of students abusing substances.

● Schools could implement a Drug Prevention Program

With a Drug Prevention Program that holds meetings at least 4 out of 5 days a week every student will

be able to attend these meetings. In these meetings, educators will be able to share relevant and

impactful information about substance abuse without enticing students to try substances. These

meetings would focus on:

● Enhancing students’ problem-solving skills

● Evaluating media influence

● Improving their self-esteem

● Reducing their stress and anxiety

● Increasing their engagement in meaningful activities.

Not only would the programs be designed only to provide facts about the impact of substance abuse

but they will also educate students on different coping skills and also how to control and identify

emotions. They will also learn about healthy peer relationships and how to say “no”.

Not only do we recommend the schools implement these programs but we also recommend

that the government uses the country's local tv network, TVJ to spread awareness of the impact of the

use of substances and everything that is being taught at these Drug Prevention programs at the schools.

With the local TV network being a way to spread awareness, the parents and guardians of children can

also be educated about this problem and may also do their best in whatever ways they can to prevent

their children from using substances.

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://isminc.com/advisory/publications/the-source/how-schools-can-work-prevent-substance-
abuse-0