Effectiveness of a Mobile App to Increase Risk Perception of Tobacco, Alcohol, and Marijuana Use in Mexican High School Students: Quantitative Study (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Young people have the highest rates of drug use worldwide. Mexican adolescents are at high risk for drug use due to a low perception of risk and the availability of drugs. Adolescence is an ideal period to reduce or prevent risk behaviors with evidence-based strategies. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the short-term effectiveness of a mobile application to increase risk perception of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use in a sample of Mexican high school students. METHODS A non-experimental pre-post evaluation was used to measure the effectiveness of a preventive intervention using a mobile application, “What Happens If You Go Too Far?” The dimensions analyzed were knowledge about drugs and their effects, life skills, self-esteem, and risk perception. The intervention was carried out on a high school campus with 356 first-year students. RESULTS The intervention increased the overall risk perception for tobacco and alcohol use, the perception that it is dangerous to smoke five cigarettes, and the perception that it is very dangerous to smoke one cigarette or to use alcohol or marijuana. Tobacco knowledge, marijuana knowledge, resistance to peer pressure, self-esteem, and assertiveness significantly increased the perceived risk of using these drugs. CONCLUSIONS The intervention has the potential to increase the perception of risk towards drug use in high school students by providing knowledge about the effects and psychosocial risks of drug use, and by strengthening life skills that are associated with increased risk perception. The use of mobile technologies in intervention processes may broaden the scope of preventive work in adolescents.