Volume 32, Issue 1 (3-2025)
RJMS 2025, 32(1): 1-11 |
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Research code: A-10-7204-3
Ethics code: IR.IAU.KHUISF.REC.1402.266
Clinical trials code: 1234
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Khanegir M, Baratali M, Saadatmand Z. Designing an Addiction Insight-Enhancement Model Based on Learner Preparation, Leadership, and Implementation of Effective Activities for Adolescents and Youth in Kerman. RJMS 2025; 32 (1) :1-11
URL: http://rjms.iums.ac.ir/article-1-8477-en.html
URL: http://rjms.iums.ac.ir/article-1-8477-en.html
1- PhD Student, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
2- Assistant Professor, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran ,baratali_540_1359@yahoo.com
3- Associate Professor, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
2- Assistant Professor, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran ,
3- Associate Professor, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
Abstract: (580 Views)
Background & Aims: This research is situated within the discipline of instructional design, a systematic and theoretically-grounded field dedicated to the creation of effective, efficient, and engaging learning experiences. Instructional design transcends the simple presentation of information; it is an engineering process for learning that involves the systematic application of principles from educational psychology, cognitive science, and communication theory to analyze learner needs, define clear objectives, develop structured content and activities, and evaluate outcomes to ensure intended competencies are achieved. The present study is motivated by the critical and urgent need for evidence-based primary prevention strategies to address the pervasive public health challenge of substance abuse among adolescents and young adults, a demographic particularly vulnerable to the initiation of risky behaviors due to a confluence of developmental, social, and neurobiological factors. The city of Kerman, with its unique socio-cultural and economic dynamics, serves as the specific context for this investigation, highlighting the necessity for localized, culturally sensitive intervention models. The primary aim of this study, therefore, is to develop, rigorously validate, and preliminarily evaluate a novel and comprehensive educational framework termed the "addiction insight-enhancement model." This model is conceptually designed to move far beyond the superficial dissemination of factual warnings about drugs. Its core objective is to foster profound, lasting cognitive restructuring and behavioral change by cultivating deep personal insight into the nature of addiction. This insight is conceptualized as a transformative understanding that integrates knowledge of consequences with self-awareness and skill development. To achieve this, the model is built upon an integrated tripartite framework. This framework strategically combines a foundational phase focusing on preliminary learner readiness and psychological preparation, a central phase emphasizing facilitative leadership and guided socio-constructivist instruction during the learning process, and an applied phase dedicated to the structured implementation of interactive, experiential, and impactful activities grounded in active learning principles. These three pillars are not sequential silos but are interwoven to create a cohesive learning journey, all converging synergistically towards the ultimate, overarching goal of sustainable addiction prevention and the promotion of resilient, health-positive behaviors among the target population.
Methods: The methodological approach of this study employed a rigorous, sequential mixed-methods protocol designed to ensure both the theoretical soundness and the practical efficacy of the proposed model. The initial developmental and validation phase prioritized internal or diagnostic validity through a process of expert validation. For this purpose, a panel of twenty specialists was purposefully and critically sampled. This panel comprised recognized experts in two key domains: instructional design and educational technology, who could evaluate the pedagogical architecture and learning efficacy of the model, and addiction prevention specialists, including psychologists and public health professionals, who could assess the clinical accuracy, appropriateness, and potential impact of the content. These experts were engaged in a structured review process to meticulously evaluate the model's theoretical foundations, the scientific accuracy and age-appropriateness of its content, the pedagogical logic of its activity sequences, and the overall coherence of its design. Following refinement based on this expert feedback, the study progressed to its second phase, which tested the model's practical applicability and initial real-world impact through controlled field experimentation. For this external validation, a sample of forty eighth-grade middle school students was randomly selected from schools in Kerman and then randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. Eighth grade was deliberately chosen as it represents a critical preventive window prior to the typical peak periods of experimentation. The primary instruments for measurement were a researcher-developed questionnaire and a knowledge/skills test. These instruments were first vetted for content validity by the aforementioned expert panel to ensure they accurately measured the intended constructs—such as knowledge of neuropsychological mechanisms, risk perception, refusal self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions. Subsequently, their statistical reliability was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha, yielding coefficients of 0.76 for the attitudinal/insight scales and 0.82 for the knowledge/application scales, both indicating acceptable to good internal consistency. The research design was a pretest-posttest controlled trial. After baseline (pretest) measurements were taken from both groups, the experimental group received the complete, multi-session educational intervention based on the insight-enhancement model. Concurrently, the control group continued with their standard school curriculum without any specific anti-addiction programming, serving as a benchmark for comparison. Following the intervention, post-test measurements were administered to both groups, allowing for a comparative analysis of the model's effects while controlling for initial baseline differences.
Results: The analysis of the post-test results revealed statistically significant and educationally meaningful positive outcomes for the experimental group that participated in the insight-enhancement program. Quantitative data demonstrated that these participants achieved substantially greater learning gains compared to the control group. These gains were not limited to the retention of factual information about drugs but encompassed a more nuanced understanding of addiction as a process, including its underlying neurobiological mechanisms, its psychological stages, and its multifaceted personal, familial, and social consequences. This success is analytically attributed to the operationalization of the intervention as a procedural training model, which provided learners with a clear, logical, and sequential pathway from awareness to understanding to application, thereby reducing cognitive load and enhancing integration of complex ideas. A pivotal and illuminating finding was the exceptionally high level of active cognitive and emotional engagement that the program elicited from the students. This engagement was not incidental but was fundamentally driven by the curriculum's deliberate and explicit foundation in neuropsychological and neuroscientific principles. By explaining addiction through the compelling lens of brain function—such as the hijacking of dopamine-based reward pathways, the impairment of prefrontal cortex functions governing executive control, judgment, and impulse inhibition, and the concept of neuroplasticity—the content achieved two crucial goals. First, it established high scientific credibility, moving the discourse from moralistic admonition to a matter of brain health. Second, and perhaps more importantly, it rendered the content personally relevant and intellectually stimulating, allowing students to frame their own decisions and potential vulnerabilities within a biological framework they could understand. This neuroscience-based approach actively engaged students' curiosity and fostered a sense of personal agency over their brain health, making the preventive lessons more resonant and memorable than traditional scare tactics or factual lists.
Conclusion: This study establishes that the developed educational model represents a comprehensive, coherent, and effective intervention for primary addiction prevention. Its demonstrated efficacy stems from a meticulously engineered, cohesive design in which three critical elements are fully aligned: scientifically-grounded and psychologically resonant content focused on generating neuropsychological insight, interactive and student-centered pedagogical methods that facilitate construction of knowledge and practice of skills, and evaluation mechanisms oriented towards assessing the development of practical competencies and shifts in behavioral intention. This intentional triad works in concert to build crucial psycho-social competencies, including enhanced critical thinking, improved decision-making strategies, strengthened refusal and help-seeking skills, and greater emotional self-regulation. Collectively, these competencies contribute to increased resilience against the myriad risk factors associated with substance abuse initiation. Therefore, the insight-enhancement model, as validated through this research, stands as a strategic, evidence-informed tool for educators, public health officials, and community planners. It offers a replicable, structured, and theoretically robust framework that can be adapted and implemented in adolescent and youth education programs not only within the specific context of Kerman but also in other regions and communities facing similar public health challenges, providing a viable alternative to less effective, traditional prevention paradigms.
Methods: The methodological approach of this study employed a rigorous, sequential mixed-methods protocol designed to ensure both the theoretical soundness and the practical efficacy of the proposed model. The initial developmental and validation phase prioritized internal or diagnostic validity through a process of expert validation. For this purpose, a panel of twenty specialists was purposefully and critically sampled. This panel comprised recognized experts in two key domains: instructional design and educational technology, who could evaluate the pedagogical architecture and learning efficacy of the model, and addiction prevention specialists, including psychologists and public health professionals, who could assess the clinical accuracy, appropriateness, and potential impact of the content. These experts were engaged in a structured review process to meticulously evaluate the model's theoretical foundations, the scientific accuracy and age-appropriateness of its content, the pedagogical logic of its activity sequences, and the overall coherence of its design. Following refinement based on this expert feedback, the study progressed to its second phase, which tested the model's practical applicability and initial real-world impact through controlled field experimentation. For this external validation, a sample of forty eighth-grade middle school students was randomly selected from schools in Kerman and then randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. Eighth grade was deliberately chosen as it represents a critical preventive window prior to the typical peak periods of experimentation. The primary instruments for measurement were a researcher-developed questionnaire and a knowledge/skills test. These instruments were first vetted for content validity by the aforementioned expert panel to ensure they accurately measured the intended constructs—such as knowledge of neuropsychological mechanisms, risk perception, refusal self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions. Subsequently, their statistical reliability was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha, yielding coefficients of 0.76 for the attitudinal/insight scales and 0.82 for the knowledge/application scales, both indicating acceptable to good internal consistency. The research design was a pretest-posttest controlled trial. After baseline (pretest) measurements were taken from both groups, the experimental group received the complete, multi-session educational intervention based on the insight-enhancement model. Concurrently, the control group continued with their standard school curriculum without any specific anti-addiction programming, serving as a benchmark for comparison. Following the intervention, post-test measurements were administered to both groups, allowing for a comparative analysis of the model's effects while controlling for initial baseline differences.
Results: The analysis of the post-test results revealed statistically significant and educationally meaningful positive outcomes for the experimental group that participated in the insight-enhancement program. Quantitative data demonstrated that these participants achieved substantially greater learning gains compared to the control group. These gains were not limited to the retention of factual information about drugs but encompassed a more nuanced understanding of addiction as a process, including its underlying neurobiological mechanisms, its psychological stages, and its multifaceted personal, familial, and social consequences. This success is analytically attributed to the operationalization of the intervention as a procedural training model, which provided learners with a clear, logical, and sequential pathway from awareness to understanding to application, thereby reducing cognitive load and enhancing integration of complex ideas. A pivotal and illuminating finding was the exceptionally high level of active cognitive and emotional engagement that the program elicited from the students. This engagement was not incidental but was fundamentally driven by the curriculum's deliberate and explicit foundation in neuropsychological and neuroscientific principles. By explaining addiction through the compelling lens of brain function—such as the hijacking of dopamine-based reward pathways, the impairment of prefrontal cortex functions governing executive control, judgment, and impulse inhibition, and the concept of neuroplasticity—the content achieved two crucial goals. First, it established high scientific credibility, moving the discourse from moralistic admonition to a matter of brain health. Second, and perhaps more importantly, it rendered the content personally relevant and intellectually stimulating, allowing students to frame their own decisions and potential vulnerabilities within a biological framework they could understand. This neuroscience-based approach actively engaged students' curiosity and fostered a sense of personal agency over their brain health, making the preventive lessons more resonant and memorable than traditional scare tactics or factual lists.
Conclusion: This study establishes that the developed educational model represents a comprehensive, coherent, and effective intervention for primary addiction prevention. Its demonstrated efficacy stems from a meticulously engineered, cohesive design in which three critical elements are fully aligned: scientifically-grounded and psychologically resonant content focused on generating neuropsychological insight, interactive and student-centered pedagogical methods that facilitate construction of knowledge and practice of skills, and evaluation mechanisms oriented towards assessing the development of practical competencies and shifts in behavioral intention. This intentional triad works in concert to build crucial psycho-social competencies, including enhanced critical thinking, improved decision-making strategies, strengthened refusal and help-seeking skills, and greater emotional self-regulation. Collectively, these competencies contribute to increased resilience against the myriad risk factors associated with substance abuse initiation. Therefore, the insight-enhancement model, as validated through this research, stands as a strategic, evidence-informed tool for educators, public health officials, and community planners. It offers a replicable, structured, and theoretically robust framework that can be adapted and implemented in adolescent and youth education programs not only within the specific context of Kerman but also in other regions and communities facing similar public health challenges, providing a viable alternative to less effective, traditional prevention paradigms.
Keywords: Instructional Design, Insight Enhancement, Addiction Prevention, Conceptual Model, Process Model
Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Clinical Psychiatry
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