Substance use prevention programmes among adolescents focusing on resilience as a protective factor: A systematic review

Abstract

Substance use among adolescents is a major problem facing the world today. However, there are challenges on prevention of substance use among this population. The purpose of this systematic review was to explore and describe current evidence on substance use prevention programmes among adolescents focusing on resilience as a protective factor. Systematic review materials and methods were followed to answer the review question “What current evidence exists on substance use prevention programmes among adolescents focusing on resilience as a protective factor?” EbscoHost, PubMed, Emerald, Web of Science, JSTOR and the Manual databases were searched using variations of the following keywords: adolescent*, substance use, prevent* program*, resilient* and protect* factor*. A total of 3701 studies were obtained during literature search and only 7 studies met the inclusion criteria of this systematic review. Two themes were identified from the results of this systematic review namely, features of a prevention programme as well as protective factors relevant to a prevention programme. From the findings of this systematic review, it is concluded that substance use among adolescents can be prevented if intervention programmes focus on resilience as a protective factor.

Keywords: Adolescents, prevention programme, protective factors, resilience, substance use