The Effectiveness of a Brief Motivational Interviewing (MI) Communication Via Instant Massaging on the Reduction of Drug Abuse Among Adolescents in Hong Kong: a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Youth who persistently abuse substances often experience an array of problems, including academic difficulties, health-related problems (including mental health), poor peer relationships, and involvement with the juvenile justice system. Additionally, there are consequences for family members, the community, and the entire society. Although many youths engage in risky, experimental drug use without developing later life addiction, the early age of first drug use is strongly associated with risk for developing a substance use disorder later in life.

According to the Central Registry of Drug Abuse Sixty-seventh Report in 2018, the total number of reported drug abusers in Hong Kong has been decreasing in last decade, however, about 40% of them were aged 25 or below. Reported by 2017/18 Survey of Drug Use among Students, the number of students claiming to have used drugs has gone up by 23 per cent compared to the last survey. Combining with the two reports, there were lifetime drug-taking 17800 students, while only 471 drug-users aged under 21 were reported. In addition, the 2017 figures revealed that 58% of the abusers took drugs at home/friend's home only, which had increased substantially from 43% in 2008. The statistics above alarm that the drug abuse and the hidden nature of drug-taking among the youth aged 25 or below which cannot be overlooked or undervalued.

The psychological and social factors associated with the initiation and continuation of drug abuse are different for the youth and adult. Previous research has confirmed that the recovery from drug abuse is influenced by the users' intention to change, which is determined directly by their perceptions of anti-drug and their perceived self-efficacy to change. While, drug-abusers' attitude, social influences, and demographic characteristics have more indirect effects on recovery from drug abuse.

Most of the youth drug-abusers reported that the major reasons to take drugs for the first time are "curiosity" and "to seek excitement", which indicated an insufficient anti-drug awareness among the high-risk population. While except for the conform bringing by drug-abusing, social and psychological factors, such as peer identification, depression, anxiety, stress was reported as major reasons for youth to continue using drugs. It prompts us individualized interventions that clearly communicated information about the risks of drug abuse should be designed for the youth.

Government has organized several drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation programme. However, as shown in the report, about 88% of youth drug-abusers had never sought others' help. Except for the feeling that drug giving, absence of problem lead to that they mostly did not consider themselves addicted, which was the major reason for the youth having no awareness to seek for others' help. In addition, consideration about the stigma, fear of not knowing what to expect from the treatment and the whole lifestyle change, and worries about withdrawal symptoms were the main barriers to keep the youth from seeking drug abuse treatment. To bring the usage of drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation programme into full play, these barriers should be resolved for drug-abusing youth.