Abstract
BackgroundSelf-medication by older adults has been always a public health concern. The present study aimed to modify the psychological constructs of Health Belief Model (HBM) in relation to self-medication behaviors using Freire’s Adult Education Model (FAEM) among older adults in Khorramabad, Iran, from 2017 to 2018.MethodsThe mean age of the older adults was 66.28 ± 7.18 years. This was a randomized controlled trial study conducted on 132 individuals older than 60 who were referred from different health care centers. The participants were selected using multistage sampling method and randomly divided into two groups of intervention and control. The data collection instruments included a questionnaire which was designed based on both HBM and self-medication behaviors questionnaire. The phase of adult education model (AEM) was used to modify the psychological constructs of HBM and self-medication behaviors. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 20 with a significant level of 0.05. Descriptive statistical tests, chi-squared test, paired t-test, independent t-test, and univariate modeling were employed for the purpose of analyzing data.ResultsThere was no significant difference between groups in terms of self-medication. Unawareness of the effects of medicine were the most important reason for self-medication (p = 0.50). The two groups were not significantly different in terms of knowledge, HBM constructs, and self-medication behaviors (p > 0.05). However, they came up to be considerably different for the above variables after the intervention was implemented (p < 0.05). When the findings were adjusted for the effects of confounding variables, there were significant differences between the two groups in almost all constructs of HBM and their behaviors (p < 0.05). However, the perceived barrier modality of HBM did not reach to a significant level of difference between two groups.ConclusionThe educational intervention, which was based on Freire’s AEM, had positive effects on the constructs of HBM and consequently on self-medication behaviors. The psychological constructs of HBM were affected at the phases of listening to problems. Self-medication was tempered at the action-reflection phase with shared creation and evaluation of the action plan geared toward the achievement of the behavioral objectives. The results might be of importance to healthcare professionals involved in care of older patients.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials IRCT2013091814512N2. Registered on January 2 - prospectively registered, the trial was registered in the Iranian Clinical Trials Registry http://www.irct.ir.
Highlights
Self-medication by older adults has been always a public health concern
The psychological constructs of Health Belief Model (HBM) were affected at the phases of listening to problems
Self-medication was tempered at the action-reflection phase with shared creation and evaluation of the action plan geared toward the achievement of the behavioral objectives
Summary
The present study aimed to modify the psychological constructs of Health Belief Model (HBM) in relation to self-medication behaviors using Freire’s Adult Education Model (FAEM) among older adults in Khorramabad, Iran, from 2017 to 2018. Self-medication is defined as taking the commercially available medications. This is the most common form of selfcare among people. Chronic diseases that mostly affect older people lead to pain, disability, decline in quality of life, and increased need for medications. Previous studies show self-medication can cause even more harm than good among older adults; it would be fundamental to identify these behaviors and try to modify them so that older adults can have a long and healthy life [7]
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