Voices of Teachers and Pupils on School-Based Alcohol Abuse Preventive Strategies in Selected Schools of Lusaka, Zambia

The study explored teachers’ and pupils’ views on school-based alcohol abuse preventive strategies in selected schools of Lusaka, Zambia. The study involved 30 participants and used descriptive research design to collect data. Purposive sampling procedure were used to select teachers, pupils, head teachers, parents and mental health education officers. Focus Group Discussion were used among pupils as a ‘friendship group.’ Interview guides were used to collect data from teachers, pupils, head teachers and mental health officers. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data with major themes drawn from interviews. From the findings, it was evident that some pupils abused alcohol in school premises. The findings revealed that peer pressure, stress, ignorance, curiosity, lack of sensitization on the dangers of alcohol abuse were the main factors influencing the pupils to abuse alcohol in schools. The findings showed that sensitization and awareness were rarely conducted to prevent pupils from abusing alcohol. The study recommended inter alia that school based strategies should be more interactive and should involve plays, games, life skills training in order to contribute positively to behavioural change. Teachers, head teachers and parents should be involved in the prevention of alcohol abuse and should undergo short in-house training in alcohol prevention in schools.