An investigation in knowledge, attitude and performance of high school students regarding ecstasy abuse, Zahedan-2008

Ecstasy abuse is one of the risky behaviors. According to World Health Organization, there is a relationship between knowledge and attitude and drug abuse. The purpose of this study was to determine adolescents’ knowledge, attitude and performance about ecstasy in west of Zahedan in 2008. It was a cross-sectional study. Eight hundred 18 years old adolescents residing in west of Zahedan participated in this study. Adolescents’ knowledge, attitude and performance were also determined by a questionnaire structured by the researcher. The questionnaires were filled out by participants after obtaining an informed consent and data was analyzed with some statistical software like SPSS and descriptive statistics methods, statistic tests, analysis and variance. The level of knowledge of most of adolescents about Ecstasy was fair (60.2 %) and most of them (77.4 %) had a neuter attitude toward using ecstasy. Findings regarding adolescents’ performance indicated that 100% of students have not experienced ecstasy through their life. On the basis of these findings, although the level of knowledge of most adolescents towards ecstasy was good and reasonable, lost of awareness was one of the most important reasons related to ecstasy abuse from the points of view of most of them. Therefore, it is recommended that informal educations should be performed in different advertising programs such as short messages, posters and video clips.