Abstract
BackgroundSelf-medication is described as the use of drugs without a physician’s prescription to treat self-recognized illness or symptoms, and an important health issue among the elderly. Despite the wide range of different definitions, recognizing all forms of self-medication among older adults, particularly, in developing countries, help healthcare professionals and providers to reduce harmful effects of self-medication. The purpose of this study is to describe the practice of self-medication and its related factors among elderly people in Iran based on the experiences of people who are involved in this phenomenon.MethodsThis qualitative study was conducted using content analysis. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants and continued until saturation. The participants were the elderly, their care-givers, physicians, and pharmacists. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews, and analysis was done using an inductive approach. The theory of planned behavior was used as a framework to explain the role of the emerged factors in the occurrence of self-medication behavior.ResultsBased on the expressed experiences of the participants, factors related to the practice of self- medication among the elderly in Iran fit in these 5 categories: “patient’s attitudes towards disease, treatment, and physicians”, “living with disease”, “unfriendly environments”, “enabling health system”, and “influential others”.ConclusionsBased on the results of this study, self-medication of the elderly in Iran has commonalities with many countries in regard to over-the-counter medications and complementary and alternative medicine; however, self-medication is also seen with drugs that require a prescription but can easily be obtained from pharmacies. Contributing factors, apart from the elderly themselves, include their families, caregivers, and social circle, the physical environment where they live, and the health system from which they receive services.
Highlights
Self-medication is described as the use of drugs without a physician’s prescription to treat self-recognized illness or symptoms, and an important health issue among the elderly
In light of the unique circumstances of its health care system, this study aims to achieve a comprehensive understanding of self-medication practices by elderly people in Iran and its determinants based on the experiences of stakeholders including the elderly, their caregivers, physicians, and pharmacists
The results are presented as codes, subcategories, and categories using an inductive approach [20], which were further organized based on the constructs of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to allow for the interpretation of what influences self-medication practices by elderly people in Iran
Summary
Self-medication is described as the use of drugs without a physician’s prescription to treat self-recognized illness or symptoms, and an important health issue among the elderly. Studies have pointed out multiple problems related to self-medication which includes increased risk of adverse drug reactions, drug interactions, drug resistance, and even sudden death in certain cases. These eventualities are partly attributable to prescription drugs used on an individual’s own initiative and partly to misuse or abuse of OTC medicines [4,5,6,7]. When self-medication is practiced using over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, it is considered an important element
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