Tenth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

Drug and substance abuse has grown rapidly around the globe and it is posing a threat and has serious effects on people’s health, security, social-economic and cultural welfare. The purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of social-economic empowerment on eradication of drug abuse among the youth in Matongo Sub-location Nyamira County, Kenya. This study employs Mixed Method Research Design, the Sequential Explanatory type. The research sample involves the youths in the age bracket eleven to twenty-one years, form four leavers who graduated in the last four years, the area sub-chief and village elders. The method used in this research is a literature review to examine the research on drug abuse in society, investigation using a questionnaire, in-depth interviews with academic staff, and the sub-chief focus group discussions of form four leavers to identify potential benefits of socio-economic empowerment of the youth to help minimize drug and substance abuse. Questionnaires are administered to the sample by the researcher and the interviews and focus groups are administered, recorded, and then transcribed to allow an accurate analysis by the researcher. The data from the questionnaires is analysed using frequency, percentages, means and standard deviations. The data from in-depth interview and focused group discussions is analysed by identifying themes from the responses. The findings from this study provide information and the nature, picture, and extend of ways and methods of eradicating drug and substance abuse