Assessment of tramadol abuse impact on academic performance among undergraduate students in Ignatius Ajuru University of Education,Port-Harcourt, Rivers State Nigeria

This study assessed the impact of tramadol abuse on academic performance of undergraduate students in Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt. Two research questions were formulated to guide this study. Multi-stage random sampling procedure were adopted for the study. The population for the study was 5117 students in the university. The sample size was 400 students. The instrument for data collection was the structured questionnaire which comprised section A and B for demographic characteristics, and items related to research questions. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Pearson Product moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) with a reliability coefficient of 0.86. Data was analyzed using statistical package for social science Descriptive statistics comprising of mean, percentage, frequency and standard deviation were used for demographic and answering of research questions. The result showed that the mean age of the respondents was 24.5+ 4.5 years, 57.6% were male, 42.4% were female from the selected faculties, 35.3% were year 1, 30.2% were year 2, 19.3 were year 3, and 15.2% were year 4. The result also indicates that the grand mean value 2.98 is greater than the criterion referenced mean 2.50 depicting that tramadol abuse posed a negative impact on the respondents. The study concludes that tramadol abuse are more injurious to academic activities of students in tertiary institutions than any other drug. The study recommends that healthy lifestyle choices and developments of skills needed in making informed and responsible decision to resist tramadol abuse among undergraduates should be emphasized by health personnels in the facilities at the point of their admission into the institution.