Perceived impact of substance abuse on mental health among undergraduates in public universities in anambra state

This study investigated the perceived impact of substance abuse on mental health among undergraduate students in public universities in Anambra State. Five research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population comprised of 75,358 undergraduate students in public universities in Anambra State. A sample of 400 undergraduate students determined using the Taro Yamane formula was selected using multistage sampling techniques. A researcher-developed questionnaire titled "the perceived Impact of Substance Abuse on Mental Health Questionnaire (IPSAMHQ)", was validated by three experts in Health Promotion and Public Health Education and Educational Foundation (Measurement and Evaluation), while its reliability was established using the Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 (KR-20), which yielded reliability coefficient of 0.86 and Cronbach's Alpha with an overall coefficient of 0.83, indicating that the instrument was reliable for the study. Data was collected through direct administration to respondents by the researcher and three research assistants and was analyzed using SPSS version 27.0. Frequency counts, percentages, mean and standard deviation answered the research questions, while independent samples t-test was used to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. Alcohol (88%), energy drinks (83%), pain relievers (77%), tobacco (71%), caffeine (67%) and cannabis (66%) were perceived by undergraduates as commonly used substances. The overall frequency of use was rare (cluster mean = 1.31). The study also found that substance abuse was perceived to have impact on students' mental health. Furthermore, the findings indicated there was no statistically significant difference in the perceptions of male and female undergraduate students, as well as undergraduate students across different academic levels, regarding the perceived impact of substance abuse on mental health. The study recommended that University health education programmes should provide regular, education on the consequences of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis etc and also provide counselling and referral for students experiencing psychological distress or problematic substance use.