Educational environment of organization of prevention of action of abuse of psychoactive substances by students

Фотографии: 

ˑ: 

L.F. Artem’eva, candidate
A.Ya. Nein, professor, Dr.Hab., Honored worker of science of the RF
A.V. Baryshev, associate professor, Ph.D
Ural state university of physical culture, Chelyabinsk

Key words: socioeducational environment, conditions, students of university of physical culture, psychoactive substances, preventive measures.

Introduction. The distribution and abuse of psychoactive substances in Russia gas become an acute problem and the deterrent of demographic, socioeconomic and defense potentials. Drug addiction leads to the degradation of people, population decline and reduction of the development potential and the country's competitiveness. About 13 % of the population of the Russian Federation, namely 18 million people, have an experience of drug use. At the same time by the age of 24 years every fifth young person has tried drugs. The total of persons, occasionally using drugs for non-medical purposes, reaches 5.5 million people, and those who use drugs regularly are up to 3 million people. About 100 thousand people die from drugs in the country every year [1, p. 56-62].

In Russia, the drug situation is predetermined by the heroin pressure from Afghanistan. By the share of the population involved in the opiate abuse, Russia is ahead of the states of the European Union by 5-8 times, and Germany - 20 times on the average. This abrupt change has occurred for less than twenty years [5].

The results of the analysis of the drug situation show that it is not allowed in the Chelyabinsk region to increase controlled narcotic drugs, but criminal groups are actively importing and trafficking non-controlled synthetic psychoactive substances in the region, along with the growing consumption of various kinds of homemade drugs manufactured based on freely sold medicines, food poppy and household chemicals.

As shown by the materials of the large-scale questionnaire (n = 478), the vast majority of the survey respondents attribute to the fundamental problems of the younger generation the devaluation of values, insecurity, sociolegal vulnerability, decline in morality among adolescents and youth, lack of spirituality, lack of value orientations, low level of culture in representatives of this sociodemographic category of people as an expression of the spiritual and moral crisis of society [1, p. 56-57]. The consequence of all of this is drug addiction, alcoholism, crime. Similar results were observed in other studies [7-9].

It should be noted, however, that the priority contributing the involvement in the narcotization process of children, adolescents and young adults, as shown in the study, is first and foremost: negative impact of mass media on the education of the younger generation, family moral and psychological climate, socioeconomical instability in society, growth of anti-social phenomena in countries, lack of conditions for children and adolescents’ leisure activities.

In order to take drastic measures that can prevent the negative development of the drug situation, the continuous analysis of the information on the status of processes and phenomena in the field of drug trafficking is required, as well as in the field of counteracting their illicit trafficking, prevention of drug misuse, treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicted.

The noted enables to conclude that the studied problem of organization of prevention of psychoactive substance abuse by teenagers and university students is extremely important and relevant.

The purpose of the study was to reveal the educational conditions of organization of prevention of psychoactive substance abuse among adolescents and youth within the arranged sports center.

Materials and methods. The objectives were achieved using the following methods. Theoretical: analysis of regulatory documents in the field of education, intended to prevent abuse of psychoactive substances among youth; historical and pedagogical, theoretical and methodological and conceptual and terminological analyses of the problem. Empirical: research and synthesis of the effective experience of youth non-governmental organizations, ascertaining and exploratory experiments, observation, questionnaire, testing, expert evaluation, statistical methods of data processing.

The main experimental sites were Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "Ural state university of physical culture” and the federal experimental sports center on the development and approbation of the technology of prevention of narcotism among youth on the basis of UralSAPhC. Additional sites were Yekaterinburg and Sterlitamak (Republic of Bashkortostan) branches of UralSUPhC. 386 people, including 49 teachers of educational institutions, were covered at the final phase of the study.

Results and discussion. On the basis of the federal target program "Complex measures against drug abuse and illicit trafficking", designed for a long term period, the "Federal Sports Center” (FSC) was created in Ural state university of physical culture with the main task to develop and test technologies of prevention of drug addiction among youth. The whole experimental research study on this issue has been organized on the basis of this center in the period from 2006 to 2012.

Below is the structure of the FSC as one of important educational conditions of the organization of work on prevention of psychoactive substance abuse (Chart).

Fig. Structure of physical culture and sports center for the organization of prevention of drug addiction among youth

The priority objective of FSC is creation of educational conditions for sociopsychological adaptation of students, teenagers and young students to health protecting life by means of physical culture, sport and tourism, which distract from drug addiction and bad habits. The educational conditions in our study are a mix of objective possibilities of content, form, methods, means and material and spatial environment to achieve the set goal [4, p. 17-18].

The social order of society (standard) on the organization of prevention of drug addiction among young people and the goal can be achieved by forming the need for a healthy way of life, physical self-education of a subject. As it is known, physical culture, sport, tourism, healthy way of life should become a robust psychological protection of children, adolescents and young people. Physical education and sports classes, healthy way of life are a product of human spiritual efforts. Human physical health is largely determined by his attitude to the world and to himself, whether (if it is stated) an adolescent has a need for spiritual self-improvement and physical self-education, cognition of himself and others [6, p. 89].

In the experimental research study of FSC on testing of the educational conditions of the organization of preventive measures of drug addiction among students the following activities were done: the concept and the draft long-term program up to 2015 on prevention of drug addiction among teenagers and young people at the joint Board of the Ministry on physical culture and sport, the General Department of Education and Science, the Department of Health and the Department of Internal Affairs of the Chelyabinsk region were elaborated and approved; innovative technologies of prevention of drug addiction and asocial behavior among adolescents and youth via physical culture, sport and tourism were developed and tested; sports and teaching staff in the Regional training Center of UralSAPhC was retrained (n = 89); providing the targeted work among adolescents and young people, engaging specialists of Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education, Institute of Training and Retraining of Educators; methodological information and educational support of various categories of the population on the formation of healthy way of life, self-control of physical health and physical self-education of youth in conditions of informal associations was developed, attention was brought to the problem of drug addiction using mass media through the organization of joint conferences and activities of teachers, psychologists, medical and sports workers to find the ways of victimological prevention of youth. The research plans of departments, including subjects of theses, master’s term papers and diploma theses, include the issues of organization of prevention of drug addiction among youth, along with studies of sociologists, psychologists, physical education and health workers. The perspective (updated annually) organization plan of contests for the best organization of preventive anti-drug work by means of physical culture, sport and tourism is made in organizations, educational institutions, clubs and informal youth associations.

For us there are two important aspects in the actualization of the need for healthy (drug-free) way of life: the first - indication of the key feature of physical culture as a result of physical education - "of the individual’s activity for positive self-transformation", the second - indication of the key feature of result of this activity - "of the system of values it (activity) forms". The first assumes the presence of the subject of self-transformation, the second – the presence of the symptom of the binary nature of the process of self-education.

The actualization of the need for HWL among youth was based on a thorough practical development of sociopsychological training (special course), which included: workshops, design, training seminars on addictology issues covering the knowledge of the clinics and the pathogenesis of drug addiction. Thanks to the special course (curriculum) students are introduced to different methods of study of self-esteem, symptoms and syndromes of mental disorders at different drug addictions. The course promotes the formation of the inner attitude to social phenomena, in particular, to drug addiction. The resulting knowledge helps students to get deeper knowledge of the methods of psycohygiene and psychoprophylaxis of early alcoholism and drug addiction. This curriculum on the discipline "Prevention of drug addiction" is meant for all 2nd year students and involves passing a compulsory credit.

The purpose of the course is to form basic knowledge of the theory and practice of development of drug addiction in students, necessary to implement preventive campaigns in the conditions of educational and extracurricular activities. All this affects the change in the value orientations of students themselves and helps to form in future specialists the motivation for a healthy way of life and their need to conduct preventive measures in the future among different age groups: adolescents, college students, as well as in their families and in the social inner circle.

In the generalized and succinct format the typology of the objects of the methodological development of the problem of actualization of the need for HWL in the features of "type of teacher’s activity", "type of student’s activity", "type of activity ", "type of assimilated culture" - is presented in Table 1. It is shown that in the framework of the four basic functions of education the space of development of the problem of actualization of physical education contains 20 problem modules and comes within the concept of "object of study".

Typology of objects of methodological development of the problem of actualization of the person’s need for HWL (holistic approach)

Function of education

Type of teacher’s activity

Type of schoolchild’s activity

Type of activity

Type of assimilated culture

Economic (professionalization)

Education

Study

Subject of activity

Cognitive culture

Social (socialization)

Training

Self-training

Personality

Culture of interaction

Cultural (developing)

Development

Self-development

Individuality

Culture of development

Valeological (protection)

Recreation

Self-recreation

Organism (healthy)

Physical culture

As for the theoretical essence and function of actualization of the student’s need for HWL, while identifying we were guided by the common approach and attributed actualization to the area of teaching activity and placing it in the block of modules "Type of teacher’s activity" (Tab. 1).

Here we mean that in the practice of cognition it is important how the relationship of a part and a whole can be revealed, and thus to what extent the "actualization" can be correlated, or may be structurally similar to substructures (parts of) the educational process - teaching, training, development, rehabilitation of student’s body [9, p. 374].

In accordance with our approach, the concept of actualization is determined by the ratio of transition of the possibility in principle of self-training into the reality of physical self-training – to the motivated, individualized and self-regulating process of physical self-determination, self-development, self-improvement - to self-actualization, therefore, to the explicit rejection of abuse of psychoactive substances.

Simultaneously, the following pedagogical condition – volunteerism was tested as an effective direction of the primary prevention of psychoactive substance abuse by young people, which was generalizing. The introduction of the optional class "The main directions of work of the volunteer movement to prevent drug addiction" in many ways changed the nature of the student's attitude to educational and extracurricular activities [2, p. 187]. And this is primarily due to the actualization of the potential of volunteerism, that contributes to expanding the space of self-awareness as a subject of social work, developing sustainable holistic attitude to volunteerism, ensuring independent decision-making in adolescent victimization in conditions of informal associations.

Organizing the volunteer movement in UralSAPhC for primary prevention of the problem of psychoactive substance abuse by adolescents, students, we have developed an innovative "volunteer way". It provides for the formation in a student volunteer of: sustainable rejection of psychoactive substance abuse; personal value of independent activity on prevention of adolescent’s victim behavior; available positive emotions; sequential thoughtful execution of actions; deep, conscious, systematic knowledge of the types and forms of human drug addiction; and finally, skills and abilities to provide the necessary support and assistance to children, adolescents, who are already involved in the victimological addiction.

2nd year students (n = 136) of the specialty "Track and field athletics" were involved in the experimental research work on the organization of the volunteer movement. It is no accident that we have chosen this specialty. This sport is captivating, it is characterized by the ease and speed of movements, swift attacks and dedication, unexpected technical combinations. The variety of motor skills and actions different in the coordination structure and intensity contributes to the development of all physical qualities. In the process of sports activities the involved ones get a quite significant and at the same time feasible physical load (safe for the body in terms of overload) and at the same time a strong emotional charge, which helps to manage the mental state of a child and an adolescent. It is of principal importance for a volunteer. While implementing the sports and recreational volunteer function to prevent the adolescents’ victim behavior (based on the use of our educational technologies) various volunteer abilities are the subject of the transformation, among which the priority is given to stress resistant abilities to resist the risks of victimization. So, for example, in the analysis of the "volunteer way" the transformative role of specially selected training exercises and activities of the range of methods in this sport are studied, that provide a significant positive result in the development of flexibility, agility, coordination, reaction speed, endurance, overall improvement, physical and intellectual work capacity.

We have developed and tested a 38-hour workshop "Victimization as a basis for the organization of preventive measures of drug addiction among adolescents of informal associations” to introduce volunteers to the essence and content of the phenomenon of personality’s victimization. The workshop included: study of the role of physical culture and life of a modern person; introduction to the concepts of "health", "valueology", "genesis of victimization", "victim personality", "victim behavior", "pedagogical prevention of victimization", "groups in a situation of victim risk", development of value concepts of a volunteer of health protecting and health promoting activities; consideration of the factors of human physical and spiritual health; consideration of specific ways and means to improve personal health and specific mechanisms of development of personal health-centered orientation of an individual.

Thus, the substantive meaning and context of this training workshop are: firstly, to give volunteers the useful information about victimization, create a personal information space for conservation and acquisition of knowledge and skills of healthy way of life, and, secondly, to form in a volunteer the awareness and the sense of belonging to the community, to the important process of prevention of drug addiction, the opportunity to back their experience in a conversation with other adolescents, students who were not involved in this work; and, thirdly, to make a volunteer understand that he is creating the motivation for the victimological prevention, and how acquired competences should be used in his actions to plan an individual way of self-development and self-improvement by means of physical culture and sport.

The atherogenic materials obtained during monitoring, showed the positive results of allocating the pedagogical condition of the organization of volunteerism as an important area of primary prevention of psychoactive substance abuse among adolescents. The integrated use of this condition will increase the area of educational activities with adolescents thanks to the activated potential of volunteerism [2, p. 189]. This confirms the effectiveness of the developed program of control of mental state of children and adolescents, helps to reduce aggression and anxiety, and thus is a preventive measure of drug addiction among youth.

In the conclusion one can state that despite the numerous efforts of educational authorities and teaching staff from various educational institutions intended for organization of prevention of psychoactive substance abuse among adolescents, there exist obvious faults in the issues of development in young people of skills of healthy way of life, effective organization of leisure and formation of mental stability to the abuse of psychoactive substances. The passion of some young people for night clubs and bars needs special attention since this is what has become one of easy drug sources. The activity of some mass media and internet keeps playing the negative role too. Thus steady purposeful enhancement of the active system for creation of conditions of positive prevention of various dependences and development of an anti-drug volunteering movement are among the priority goals of educational establishments.

References

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Author’s contacts: artlu21@mail.ru