UNIVERSITY OF MAKENI

SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

DISSERTATION PROPOSAL

Name of student: Abu Bakarr Moses Kamara ID NO: 3947

Programme of study: Masters in Public Health

1. Research topic
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACT OF KUSH ADDICTION AMONGST
YOUTHS OF DEVIL HOLE COMMUNITY
2. Aim of the study
This research aims at assessing the social and economic impact of Kush
addiction amongst youths of Devil Hole community.
3. Objectives, research questions or hypotheses of the study

This research will be guided by the following specific objectives:

i. To assess the social impact of Kush addiction amongst youths of Devil

Hole community
ii. To explore the economic impact of the Kush amongst youths of Devil
Hole community
iii. To determine the reasons for engaging in the smoking of Kush
iv. To determine the level of addiction of Kush amongst youths
v. To investigate the beliefs of Kush users on the use of Kush

Research Questions
The study is designed to answer the following questions:
I. How can Kush addiction impact the social life of the user?
II. What is the economic impact of Kush addiction amongst youths of
Devil Hole Community?

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 III. What are the reasons why youths engage in smoking Kush in Devil
Hole community?
IV. How addicted are youths to Kush?
V. What are the beliefs of Kush users on Kush?

4. Problem statement

Drug addiction is one of the major public health global issues of modern day.
Drug addiction is a chronic disorder in which victims seek the use of drugs
irrespective of the consequences that comes with its use. According to the
National Institute on Drug Abuse in 2020, drug addiction has the tendency to
create changes to the brain circuits which can lead to certain conditions like
stress, anxiety, depression etc, most of which can last a long time even after a
person stops taking drugs.

In 2019, the United Nation annual evaluation on drug use disorders estimated
that 35 million people globally are suffering from drug addiction for just 2019
alone. Health ministries of different countries are battling with the adverse
effects of drug addiction which some scholars predict to be more serious than
we thought. From 2017, when United Nation reported that 271 million people
or 5.5% of the global population aged 15-64 years reported use of illicit or
synthetic drugs, there has been an increase of about 30% since 2009. According
to the same report by United Nation, Africa has experienced higher increase in
such drugs since 2009.

Since there has been a remarkable increase in the manufacturing of these drugs
since 2009, there has also been significant increase in deaths related to drug
overdose, in the United States alone, 47,000 deaths were recorded in 2017
alone, this shows a significant increase of 13% in 2016 and Canada experienced
33% deaths also (United Nation, 2020). In Africa, Tramadol addiction has been

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the issue since 2010 until most recently another harmful drug (Kush) is now
causing havoc amongst youths.

This proposal is formed as a result of the serious health issues and challenges
faced by the youths addicted to the use of this new lethal drug (Kush), that has
caused the death of many youths in Africa and Sierra Leone to be precise. The
proposed research will focus on the economic and social impact of Kush
addiction and explore the various reasons why youths engage in the use of this
lethal and harmful drug that is causing a lot of havoc.

5. Methodology
(case study, data collection tools, target participants, sample size and
strategy)
The dependent variable for this proposed research will be drug addiction and the
independent variables will be social impact of drug (kush) addiction, economic
impact of drug (kush) addiction, reasons for the use of drug (kush) and beliefs
about the drug (Kush). This research will use a mixed method in order to
thoroughly address the issues of drug (kush) addiction and investigate the
dependent and independent variables. Since the proposed research plans on
investigating the socioeconomic impact of drug (kush) addiction, it qualifies this
research to use a cross sectional design to see how drug (kush) addiction impacts
the socioeconomic activities of the user (Indian Journal of Dermatology, 2016).
The researcher will prepare a pre-test questionnaire in order to assess the
relevance of the questions that will be asked. In the questionnaire, there will be a
consent form which respondents will read and agree to before the interview will
commence, in the case of respondents that are not able to read and write, the
consent form will be explained, and each question in the questionnaire will be
thoroughly simplified and explained.
Target Population
The target population for this study will be youths aged 18-40 of both the male
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and female gender, the minimum age of 18 years is used, this is to comply with
an ethical consideration and not involve minors in the study.
Sample Size
This research will follow appropriate criteria based on the sampling technique
used to determine its population or sample size, since the population is unknown,
the Cochran formula will be used to get the sample size.
The Cochran formula is:

Where:
 e is the desired level of precision (i.e. the margin of error),
 p is the (estimated) proportion of the population which has the attribute in
question,
 q is 1 – p.
The z-value is found in a Z table.
((1.96)2 (0.5) (0.5)) / (0.05)2 = 385.
Now lets modify the formula for smaller sample sizes

Here n0 is Cochran’s sample size recommendation, N is the population size, and

n is the new, adjusted sample size. In our earlier example, if there were just 250
households in the target population, we would calculate
385 / (1 + ( 384 / 250)) = 69.5
Hence our sample size will be 70 youths aged 18-40years.

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Sampling and Sampling Procedures
The research will cover the researcher`s residential area. Since the research is a
sensitive one, a non-probability snowball sampling technique will be used to get
respondents. A non-probability snowball sampling technique is mostly used
when a sensitive issue is being investigated (Oregon State University, 2010), it
often involves respondents helping the researcher to identify other potential
respondents that fits the inclusion criteria of the study. However, the researcher
will focus on an exponential non-discriminative snowball sampling technique to
get other potential subjects.
Inclusion and Exclusion criteria
The inclusion criteria set for this research is:
i. Minimum age of 18 and a maximum of 40
ii. Must be a Kush user
iii. Must have the ability to understand simple things
The exclusion criteria is:
i. Youths who do not fall within the age bracket
ii. Not active users of Kush
iii. Can’t understand things even when simply put to them
6. Method(s) of data analysis
One of the most critical stages in research is data analysis in which data
is processed to get a meaning from the data. The data will be analysed
using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0, some of
the data will be transferred to advance Excel for clear presentation and
understanding. This will help in the effective management of data and
the objectives set will be evaluated based on the information got. The
questionnaire will contain both close ended and open ended questions for
easy and swift analysis.

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Suggested
supervisor…………………………………………………………………………
…

Student’s signature……………………………………….
Date………………………………..

SCHOOL APPROVAL

Topic Approved OR Not Approved

HoD’s Signature…………………………………………..
Date………………………...

Dean’s Signature………………………………………….
Date…………………………

Name of assigned
supervisor……………………………………………………………………

Contact number(s)
………………………………………………………………………………

Email
address……………………………………………………………………………
……...

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NOTE: Students are required to fill this form, photocopy and return original
copy to the department ONE WEEK after receiving this form.

NIDA. 2020, July 13. Drug Misuse and Addiction. Retrieved from
https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/drug-
misuse-addiction on 2023, October 17

Indian J Dermatol. 2016 May-Jun; 61(3): 261–264.

doi: 10.4103/0019-5154.182410

PMCID: PMC4885177

PMID: 27293245

https://research.oregonstate.edu/irb/policies-and-guidance-investigators/
guidance/snowball-sampling

https://www.statisticshowto.com/probability-and-statistics/find-sample-size/