Recently the issue of adolescent drug abuse has emerged as a growing social problem emphasizing the importance of preventive education within school settings. However only a few programs reflect adolescent developmental characteristics, interests, and...
Recently the issue of adolescent drug abuse has emerged as a growing social problem emphasizing the importance of preventive education within school settings. However only a few programs reflect adolescent developmental characteristics, interests, and engagement. Accordingly efforts have been made to apply diverse instructional methods suited to adolescent developmental characteristics.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of drama-based drug abuse prevention education on adolescents’ drug-related knowledge, attitudes, and drug use resistance self-efficacy. This quasi-experimental study employed a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design and was conducted at D High School in Yangju, Gyeonggi-do Province from January 6 to June 27, 2025. A total of 34 students from the first and second grades were randomly assigned to either the experimental (n=17) or the control group (n=17). Due to an insufficient sample size, the intervention was conducted twice - first in January and again in May - under the same design and procedures.
All participants completed the pretest on the same day. The experimental group participated in four 50-minute sessions of drama-based education over two consecutive days, two sessions per day, while the control group engaged in self-directed learning using the same printed materials. A post-test was conducted immediately after the intervention and a follow-up test was administered four weeks later for both groups.
In terms of measurement tools, drug-related knowledge was measured using the 40-item tool developed by Kim et al. (1999), and drug-related attitudes were measured with the 15-item instrument by Kim et al. (1993). Drug use resistance self-efficacy was assessed using the Drug Resistance Self-Efficacy (DURSE) scale developed by Carpenter and Howard (2009), which was translated and modified into eight items by the researcher. In addition the experimental group completed a 7-item satisfaction survey developed by the researcher.
Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 31.0. General characteristics were analyzed with frequencies and percentages, normality was tested using the Shapiro–Wilk test and homogeneity between groups was examined with the Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test and Mann–Whitney U test. Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) analyses were employed to test the main hypotheses and to analyze time, group, and time-by-group interaction effects across the three dependent variables.
GEE analysis indicated that drug-related knowledge showed a significant time effect (p < .001), with overall improvement after the intervention, whereas the group effect (p = .911) and the time-by-group interaction (p = .780) were not significant. Drug-related attitude demonstrated a significant time effect (p = .010) and gradually decreased over time; however, neither the group effect (p = .076) nor the interaction effect (p = .312) reached statistical significance. Drug use resistance self-efficacy showed no significant time (p = .236), group (p = .165), or interaction effects (p = .583), and although scores increased immediately after the intervention and decreased again at the 4-week follow-up, these changes were not statistically supported.
Although no statistically significant effects were found, this study is meaningful in that it explored the potential of drama-based participatory teaching methods in drug abuse prevention education among high school students in Korea. It is expected that drama-based and other participatory prevention educations will be further developed and disseminated, establishing evidence-based, developmentally appropriate prevention education practices for adolescents.