ADDICTA: THE TURKISH JOURNAL ON ADDICTIONS Received: April 12, 2018 Accepted: October 11, 2018 OnlineFirst: February 25, 2019 Copyright © 2019 Turkish Green Crescent Society ISSN 2148-7286 eISSN 2149-1305 http://addicta.com.tr/en/ DOI 10.15805/addicta.2019.6.1.0005 2019 6(1) 115131 Research Article To cite this article: Büyüköztürk, Ş., Yılmaz, S., Özbay, Y., Eşici, H., Tomar, İ. H., Aliyev, R., Yıldırım Hoş, H. ... Akyılmaz F. D. (2019). The effectiveness of Addiction Prevention Training Program of Turkey on improved acquisition of knowledge and emotional awareness about addiction. Addicta: The Turkish Journal on Addictions, 6, 115−131. http://dx.doi.org/10.15805/addicta.2019.6.1.0005 * The preparation of this paper was supported by Addiction Prevention Training Program of Turkey. 1 Correspondence to: Şener Büyüköztürk (PhD), Faculty of Education, Hasan Kalyoncu University, Gaziantep Turkey. Email: sener.buyukozturk@hku.edu.tr 2 Turkish Green Crescent Society, Istanbul Turkey. Email: savas.yilmaz@yesilay.org.tr 3 Faculty of Education, Hasan Kalyoncu University, Gaziantep Turkey. Email: yasar.ozbay@hku.edu.tr 4 Faculty of Education, Hasan Kalyoncu University, Gaziantep Turkey. Email: yasar.ozbay@hku.edu.tr 5 Faculty of Education, Hasan Kalyoncu University, Gaziantep Turkey. Email: ismail.tomar@hku.edu.tr & ihtomar@gmail.com 6 Faculty of Education, Hasan Kalyoncu University, Gaziantep Turkey. Email: ramin.aliyev@hku.edu.tr 7 Faculty of Education, İstanbul Medeniyet University, İstanbul Turkey. Email: halime.yldrm@gmail.com 8 Faculty of Gazi Education, Gazi University, Ankara Turkey. Email: ssnfrh@gmail.com 9 Faculty of Letters, Çankırı Karatekin University, Çankırı Turkey. Email: menekseuysal@gazi.edu.tr 10 Faculty of Gazi Education, Gazi University, Ankara Turkey. Email: gorkemceyhan@gazi.edu.tr 11 Turkish Green Crescent Society, Istanbul Turkey. Email: derya.akyilmaz@yesilay.org.tr Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine the effect that the Addiction Prevention Training Program of Turkey (APT) has on increasing primary, middle, and high school students’ knowledge and emotional awareness about addiction. A pre-test/ post-test one group experimental design was used in the study. The study group consisted of a combined total of 5,570 primary, middle, and high school students from 12 provinces of Turkey from each of the 12 regions in NUTS-1 A dependent t-test was conducted to examine the program’s ability in aiding students to acquire knowledge and emotional awareness. APT was found to be effective in increasing students’ knowledge and emotional awareness about technology addiction and to be more successful for primary school and high school than for middle school students. The program is successful in combating tobacco addiction. High school students in particular became more informed about tobacco addiction as a result of the program. APT furthermore helped high school students increase their knowledge and emotional awareness about alcohol and drug addiction. Finally, although the program was effective in improving students’ knowledge about healthy living, it did not have the same effect in increasing their emotional awareness about it. As a result, the program was effective in improving students’ knowledge and emotional awareness about addictions. Keywords Addiction prevention training program • Technology addiction • Tobacco addiction • Alcohol addiction • Drug addiction • Healthy living Şener Büyüköztürk 1 Hasan Kalyoncu University Savaş Yılmaz 2 Turkish Green Crescent Society Yaşar Özbay 3 Hasan Kalyoncu University Hasan Eşici 4 Hasan Kalyoncu University İsmail Hakkı Tomar 5 Hasan Kalyoncu University Ramin Aliyev 6 Hasan Kalyoncu University Halime Yıldırım Hoş 7 İstanbul Medeniyet University Sinem Şenferah 8 Gazi University Menekşe Uysal Saraç 9 Gazi University Görkem Ceyhan 10 Gazi University Fatma Derya Akyılmaz 11 Turkish Green Crescent Society The Effectiveness of Addiction Prevention Training Program of Turkey on Improved Acquisition of Knowledge and Emotional Awareness about Addiction *