Self-medication Behavior Research Articles

PENGARUH IKLAN OBAT FLU DI TELEVISI TERHADAP PERILAKU SWAMEDIKASI

The high prevalence of flu and the easy availability of drugs in the market and at relatively affordable prices are one of the driving forces for self-medicating by the community. In addition, increasingly sophisticated technological advances make it easy for people to get information, one of which is drug advertisements on television that can influence consumer behavior in the selection of drugs used in self-medication. This research was conducted with the aim of knowing the effect of cold medicine advertisements on television on self-medication behavior in the community of Karang Intan District. This research method is a descriptive observational study with a cross sectional design. The sampling technique was carried out using non-random sampling method, namely accidental sampling, and the number of respondents was 100 people. The data collected comes from questionnaire data, which is filled in by respondents accompanied by researchers. Descriptive data analysis was performed by using the chi square test. The results showed that the effect of cold medicine advertisements on television on self-medicated behavior in the community of Karang Intan District has a significant p value of 0.000. The conclusion is that the advertisement of cold medicine on television has an influence on self-medication behavior in the community of Karang Intan District.

Information or Habit: What Health Policy Makers Should Know about the Drivers of Self-Medication among Romanians.

We use the Knowledge, Perceptions and Practices framework to analyze determinants of three types of self-medication practices in Romania: (1) self-medication in the case of cold/flu/viral infections; (2) taking non-prescribed medicine in general; and (3) self-medication based on recommendations by others. We analyzed 706 responses to an online survey and used a factor-based Partial Least Squares algorithm (PLSF) to estimate the relationships between each type of self-medication and possible predictors. Our results show that self–medication is strongly predicted by non-cognitive behavioral factors such as habits and similarity of symptoms, while cognitive determinants such as knowledge and understanding of potential risks are not significantly associated with self-medication behaviors. This paper identifies nonlinear relationships among self-medication practices and its predictors and discusses how our results can help policymakers calibrate interventions with better accuracy.

Predictors of Self-medication in Iran: A Notional Survey Study.

While logical use of medicine is a priority in all health systems, people do self-medication- mainly using Nonprescription Drugs or Over the Counter (OTC) drugs- for different reasons. Self-medication is rising in many developing countries that could increase healthcare expenditure. The present study aimed to find the self-medication rate and predisposing, enabling, and need factors affecting it based on the Anderson behavioral model in the Iranian population. The present study uses 22470 households’ data acquired from Iranian utilization of healthcare survey at the national level (2016). Due to the study objective, the data of 13005 people who were over 15 years old and had outpatient healthcare needs two weeks before the survey. The survey included a binary question about self-medication, which is considered a dependent variable. Age, gender, marital status, literacy, job status, socio-economic status, location, basic health insurance, complementary health insurance, and need for health services were considered as independent variables. Data were analyzed using logistic regression. The self-medication rate was calculated at 26.3% that was different among different subgroups of the population. According to the model estimates, married (OR = 0.80, CI = 0.71-0.91) and housekeepers (OR = 0.79, CI = 0.67-0.93) had significantly lower self-medication. Moreover, the urban population (OR = 1.29, CI = 1.17-1.43), people without basic (OR = 1.32, CI = 1.10-1.58), and supplementary (OR = 1.18, CI = 1.04-1.35) health insurance and also people who had two or higher number of outpatient healthcare needs had significantly more self-medication (OR = 2.96, CI = 2.67-3.29). It can be concluded that need, enabling, and predisposing factors are respectively the main determinants of self-medication behavior. From a policy point of view, increasing effective health insurance coverage with a focus on people who have more health care needs can be helpful.

Drug Promotion and Self-Medication Practices in Lagos, Nigeria

The study examines the effects of drug promotional practices and self-medication behaviour on public health in Lagos. It used a multistage sampling method to select 315 respondents. The researcher selected 12 in-depth interviewees and six focus group discussants to provide qualitative data based on his knowledge of their relevance. The data were analyzed. The logistic regression analysis indicated that drug promotions were less than once more likely to trigger self-medication behaviour among residents relative to being a rule-breaking activity. The study concludes that self-medication endangers public health in Lagos. It suggests the partnership of the stakeholders to promote public drug education, provide free healthcare for all, and criminalize unethical drug promotion practices in Lagos.

Self-Medication Practice Among Older Adults: Prevalence and Associated Factors

The self-medication practice, or the self-administration of medicine or dietary supplements without any physician’s advice, represents a public health issue due to its potentially related adverse health events. In older adults, few data are available on self-medication behaviors. The main objective of our study was thus to assess the prevalence of self-medication in a population of older adults. As a secondary exploratory analysis, we seek to determine the determinants of self-medication practice and its association with adverse health outcomes. Our sample was comprised of men and women aged 65 and over from the SarcoPhAge study. Data regarding self-administration of substances were collected through self-administered questionnaire. Clinical and socio-demographic characteristics of the participants as well as medical history were recorded by the investigator. A total of 272 older adults were recruited with a mean age of 77.3±5.2 years. Among them, 119 (43.8%) reported resorting to self-medication (38.6% self-administration of vitamins and dietary supplements, 28.5% self-administration of drugs). Participants which resort to self-medication were older (78.9±4.7 years versus 77.1±3.9 years, p=0.04) and had a lower body mass index (25.7±3.9 versus 27.3±5.2, p=0.006). After adjustments for confounding factors, significant associations were noted between self-medication practice and fractures (OR=3.36[1.02-11.28]) and hospitalizations (OR=1.77 [1.03-3.05]) occurred during the previous year. The practice of self-medication seems widespread among the older age. It seems more frequent in more vulnerable subjects and having experienced adverse health outcomes. This type of health practice must therefore attract the attention of health actors.

Self-medication practice with antimalarials & the determinants of malaria treatment-seeking behavior among postpartum mothers in a rural community in Nigeria.

The majority of the population has inappropriate malaria treatment-seeking behavior and little is known about self-medication practice with antimalarials among postpartum mothers. The study, therefore, aims to determine the prevalence of self-treatment practice with antimalarials and identify factors that determine inappropriate treatment-seeking practice in this susceptible group. The study is a cross-sectional study that was conducted using a purposive sampling technique. In the study, 150 respondents were administered questionnaires by one-on-one interviews, and results were presented as frequencies and proportions. A chi-square test was done to determine the association between independent categorical variables and the dependent variable. In the study, 91 (60.7%) of the women claimed they did malaria screening tests in the laboratory/clinic before treatment, while only half of them sought professional care for treatment after the screening test. Additionally, most of the participants claimed they practice self-medication with antimalarials for themselves (64, 42.7%), and their newborn children (34, 22.7%). The experience of adverse effects (χ2 = 4.790, df = 1, p = .029) drug prescription by doctors (χ2 = 10.26, df = 1, p = .001) and the experience of malaria in the rainy season (χ2 = 4.86, df = 2, p = .027) was significantly related to receiving malaria treatment in the clinic/hospital. The study has shown that the practice of self-medication and inappropriate malaria treatment behavior is common in postpartum women in rural settings hence public health intervention that will develop standardized self-treatment guidelines for uncomplicated malaria will be useful in promoting appropriate self-treatment practice in this population. Highlights Self-medication practice with antimalarials among postpartum mothers both for themselves and their newborn child was 42.7% and 22.7% respectively One of the reasons adduced for such practice is that malaria is expensive to treat (37, 24.7%) Artemether/lumefantrine combination was the most commonly used drug for treatment (75.3%), and most of the participants preferred parenteral medication (68%) to oral drugs The experience of adverse effects was significantly related to receiving treatment in the clinic/hospital Of the 60.7% of women who claimed they did malaria screening test, only half of them sought professional care after the test.

Application of Freire\u2019s adult education model in modifying the psychological constructs of health belief model in self-medication behaviors of older adults: a randomized controlled trial

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.

WOUND CARE BEHAVIOR AMONG THE POPULATION-A SURVEY

Objective: Wound care behavior among the population.&#x0D; Methods: An observational survey was conducted randomly among different college students and the general population of all age groups having different professions. Survey questionnaires were prepared on google form and responses were collected by online mode. The form was designed to know the self-medication behavior among the population.&#x0D; Results: The total number of participants was 332. Out of which female participants were dominated 174(52.4%) and male participants were 158(47.59%). The survey revealed that 58.73% of participants took doctor’s advice, 33.73% took self-medication, 4.22% took healthcare worker advice and, 3.31% took any other advice for treatment.&#x0D; Conclusion: The survey revealed that although most of the population took doctor’s advice for the treatment of wounds but yet there is a significant population (33.73%) who took self-medication for this treatment, which should be minimized by providing awareness among them. Most of the wounds were healed within 10 d. Most of the population took medication (analgesic, antibiotic) for treatment. The use of antibiotics by self-medication is a matter of concern nowadays. As a global threat is antibiotic resistance. These drugs should be prescribed under medical supervision.

The prevalence and perception of self-medication among adults in the Klang Valley, Malaysia.

Self-medication, while potentially beneficial, also brings certain risks such as inappropriate treatment and adverse effects. In this study, we determine the prevalence and perception towards self-medication among adults living in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. This study was a cross-sectional study which sampled 562 respondents across the Klang Valley, Malaysia using a stratified quota sampling method and a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of three sections: demographic data, self-medication practices and perception towards self-medication. Perception towards self-medication was measured using 20 statements with a 5-point Likert scale. Descriptive and inferential tests as well as factor analysis were used to analyse the data. The overall prevalence of self-medication for minor ailments was 63.5%. Self-medication was practised to a similar degree regardless of respondent demographics. Respondents most frequently obtained their medicines for self-medication of minor ailments from pharmacies without consulting the pharmacist (68.6%), followed by using leftover medications at home (44.8%) and obtaining medicines from friends and family (16.0%). Factor analysis revealed that self-medication behaviour is driven by good perception towards self-medication in terms of efficacy, safety and convenience, as well as by previous personal or shared experiences. The prevalence of self-medication is high among adults in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. Adults who self-medicate view the consequences of self-medication in a positive light and may be influenced by previous personal or shared experiences. As certain risks with self-medication may be underestimated, efforts to educate the public while promoting a more proactive approach among healthcare professionals should be encouraged.

Prevalence and dental professional awareness of antibiotic self-medication among older adults: Implications for dental education.

Antibiotic stewardship has been recognized as an essential component of dental education. A notable threat to stewardship is the growing trend toward self-medication with nonprescribed antibiotics (SMNPA), particularly among older adults who may be at increased risk for adverse outcomes. This study aimed to assess the need to incorporate SMNPA into dental education by researching (1) professional awareness and (2) self-medication behaviors among older adults. A SMNPA awareness survey was administered to dentists in Arizona with 148 respondents including general dentists, dental school faculty, and public health clinicians. A second survey was distributed to 410 households in an independent and assisted living facility. The dentists were aware of sources of SMNPA such as friends/family, leftover prescriptions, as well as sources outside of the United States; however, most (>80%) were not aware that ornamental fish antibiotics could be obtained online or in pet stores. The survey response rate for the older adults was 46.3%, of which 68.3% reported antibiotic use within the past 2 years (several for dental premedication) and 6.4% (n=12) admitted to SMNPA for treating cold symptoms or pain. The main reason given for self-treatment was the belief that antibiotics had resolved similar symptoms in the past. One-third of the older adult respondents were unaware that antibiotics only treat bacterial infections. Approximately 1 in 16 older adults surveyed reported SMNPA. Dental professionals reported some knowledge of SMNPA but were unaware of all sources. This study highlights the need for SMNPA education, awareness, and implementation within dental curricula.

Prevalence and associated risk factors of self-medication among patients attending El-Mahsama family practice center, Ismailia, Egypt

BackgroundSelf-medication is defined as taking medications without the physician’s prescription. It is a worldwide public health problem, especially in countries with limited resources. Although self-medication can reduce waiting time and save money, it may carry some potential risks, e.g., antibiotic resistance or inappropriate management with subsequent complication. A limited number of self-medication studies have been conducted in Egypt.ObjectivesTo determine the prevalence of self-medication practices and to identify the factors associated with self-medicationMethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on 160 patients. The sample was randomly selected from those who attended the El-Mahsama family practice center, Ismailia, Egypt, from November 2018 to February 2019. The center is affiliated to the Suez Canal University and provides preventive and curative services to a rural community. The participants were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire including sociodemographic scale and self-medication knowledge and behavior. Data was analyzed using descriptive and analytic statistical methods.ResultsFrequency of self-medication among the study sample has reached 96%. More than half of the participants (53.6%) reported that the first reason behind using self-medication was cost saving. Meanwhile, the most prevalent conditions that make them use these medications by themselves were headaches (17%), aches and pain (other than headache) (39.2%), and fevers (11.8%). The most frequent self-administered drugs were analgesics (59.5%) and antibiotics (23.5%).ConclusionPrevalence of self-medication is high among all socioeconomic levels of patients attending the El-Mahsama family practice center, which serves a rural community in Ismailia governorate, Egypt.

Assessment of the Knowledge and Self-medication Practices towards Antibiotics among Future Healthcare Professionals in Ajman, United Arab Emirates

Objectives: The aim of the study is to assess the knowledge and self-medication behavior among health professions students regarding antibiotic usage.&#x0D; Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed using a self-administrated questionnaire. A sample of 424 questionnaires was distributed randomly among health science students of a medical university in Ajman, UAE. The questionnaire is categorized into three sections which are Socio-demographic details of the participant, knowledge and self-medication practice of antibiotic. The data was entered in MS Excel spread sheet and analyzed as per the study objectives.&#x0D; Key Findings: Upon assessing the knowledge of respondents, authors found 85.8% of the students were familiar with the term ‘antibiotic resistance’. Half of the students agreed that antibiotics treat common cold quickly. Regarding the self-medication practices, 55.6% (n= 236) of students reported that they always take antibiotic without prescription. Cold and flu was the common reason for using antibiotics. Augmentin (amoxicillin and clavulanic acid) was the common medication used among the students. Nearly one third of the respondents (32.78%; n=139) saved the antibiotics in case of reinfection.&#x0D; Conclusions: In conclusion, antibiotic usage was common among study respondents. Preventive strategies, antibiotic stewardship programs, training, education programs and more restriction towards antibiotic dispensing should be implemented to avoid the misuse and antibiotic resistance.

Self Medication and Associated Health Care Seeking Amongst Mothers of Children Aged Under 5 with Diarrhea and Respiratory Tract Infections in an Urban Slum

Introduction: Self-medication practice in childhood illnesses is quite common in developing countries. Self-medication practices are found to be influencing healthcare seeking behavior in developing countries. Aims &amp; Objectives: To assess self-medication practices and its association with health care seeking in mothers of children aged under 5 with diarrheal and respiratory illness episodes residing in an urban slum. Place and duration of study: A cross-sectional analytical study conducted in Samsani-khui, an urban slum in district Lahore, from September 2016- February 2017. Material &amp; Methods: 422 mother-child units (only one child aged under 5 years) were recruited through systematic random sampling. Responses were recorded on a structured, self-constructed questionnaire about self-medication practices of mothers for the selected child during last 6 months in acute episodes of diarrhea or respiratory illness. Data was entered and analyzed on SPSS version 21. Fisher’s exact test was applied. Results: Mean age of mothers was 26.81 ± 4.744 years, 16% were illiterate, 44.3% had attained primary education and 92.65% were housewives. 70.62% children included in study were boys. 61.8% mothers never practiced self-medication in their child whereas 38.2% administered medicines occasionally, frequently or every time the child got ill. 92.5% of the mothers practicing self-medication admitted that self-medication is responsible for delay in health care seeking. Out of these mothers, 59% sought formal health care without delay for their child suffering from diarrhea or RTI during last 6 months. 70.8% children recovered completely after practicing self-medication, as reported by mothers. While 23.0% reported late recovery, 3.1% reported complications and 3.1% reported hospitalization after self-medication. A highly significant association was found between practice of self-medication and health care seeking behavior (p=.001). Conclusion: Practice of self-medication is present in one third of mothers of low income, literacy poor families. Mothers of this stratum showed poor perception about self-medication and as well as treatment delay. Self-medication practice strongly affects health care seeking behavior.

Zoopharmacology: A Way to Discover New Cancer Treatments.

Zoopharmacognosy is the multidisciplinary approach of the self-medication behavior of many kinds of animals. Recent studies showed the presence of antitumoral secondary metabolites in some of the plants employed by animals and their use for the same therapeutic purposes in humans. Other related and sometimes confused term is Zootherapy, which consists on the employment of animal parts and/or their by-products such as toxins, venoms, etc., to treat different human ailments. Therefore, the aim of this work is to provide a brief insight for the use of Zoopharmacology (comprising Zoopharmacognosy and Zootherapy) as new paths to discover drugs studying animal behavior and/or using compounds derived from animals. This work is focused on the approaches related to cancer, in order to propose a new promising line of research to overcome multidrug resistance (MDR). This novel subject will encourage the use of new alternative prospective ways to find new medicines.

Asian elephant self-medication as a source of ethnoveterinary knowledge among Karen mahouts in northern Thailand

Ethnopharmacological relevanceEthnoveterinary medicine is often assumed to be a subset of human medicinal knowledge. Here we investigate the possibility that some ethnoveterinary medicine rather originates from observations of animal self-medication. We document and analyze the ethnoveterinary medicine used by Karen mahouts for elephant care and attempt to determine whether this knowledge originated from humans or elephants. Materials and methodsElephant camp owners and mahouts in four communities in northern Thailand were interviewed about their knowledge and use of plants for ethnoveterinary elephant care. For each ethnoveterinary plant, data were collected on Karen human medicinal uses and whether elephants independently consume them. Based on overlaps between ethnoveterinary use, human medicinal use and elephant dietary use, plants were classified into three categories: those that originated from Karen human medicine, those that originated from Asian elephant self-medication, and those which were present in both human and elephant knowledge traditions. ResultsThe use of 34 plants (32 identified at least to genus) and two additional non-plant remedies (salt and human urine) were reported to be used in ethnoveterinary elephant medicine. A total of 44 treatments in 11 use categories were recorded: tonic, wounds, compress, eye problems, indigestion, broken bones, galactagogue, snakebite, fatigue, skin and musth regulation. Of the ethnoveterinary plants, 55% had the same use in human medicine, 43% had different uses and 2% had no use. Elephants consume 84% of the ethnoveterinary plants as part of their natural diet. DiscussionAnalysis indicates that 32% of plant uses likely originated from Karen human medicine, 60% of plant uses likely existed independently in both human and elephant knowledge systems, and 8% of plant uses likely originated from elephant self-medicating behavior. The tonic use category shows the strongest evidence of influence from observations of elephant self-medication. The use of tonic medicines appears to be increasing as a way to mitigate the unnaturally limited diet of elephants in tourist camps. ConclusionEthnoveterinary medicine for elephant care is influenced by both human medicinal knowledge and elephant knowledge of plants for self-medication. The ethnoveterinary knowledge domain appears to be the result of an interactive process linked to convergent evolution or co-evolution between humans and Asian elephants.

Demographic, socio-economic and other associated risk factors for self-medication behaviour among university students of Sri Lanka: a cross sectional study

BackgroundSelf-prescribing practices are considered as a significant issue in the health sector due to mal-practices. This has become a more worsen issue in developing countries with easy access to medication. Current study was undertaken to estimate the prevalence of self-medication and to evaluate the driving factors behind this behavior, among university students of Sri Lanka.MethodA total of 700 randomly selected undergraduates of three state universities in Sri Lanka, were recruited as the study population for the cross-sectional study. Information on socio-demographic, Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices relevant to Self-Medication (SM) were gathered using an interviewer administered questionnaire. Binary logistic regression was used to calculate the Odds Ratios (OR) and the 95% confidence intervals of the OR for socio-demographic risk factors on SM.ResultsAround 78% of the studied population denoted a SM behaviour. Only, 37.7% of respondents were familiar with the classification of “Over the Counter” (OTC) drugs, while majority were well aware of the risks of SM (> 50%). Fever (61.3%) and cough (56.7%) were the major health issues for SM, while antipyretics and drugs for cough and runny nose (73.6%) were the mostly used medication. Previous experience (76%) and trivial nature of health issues (73%) were recognized as the major reasons for SM. Majority of respondents declared that community pharmacies (86.9%) and left over medication from previous prescriptions (51%) were the sources for SM. Based on the binary logistic regression, age, residence locality, field of study and academic year were recognized as significant risk factors (P < 0.05) for SM within the studied undergraduate population.ConclusionBased on the high prevalence rate of SM, the health authorities of Sri Lanka should pay more attention towards the wellbeing and responsible medication usage of undergraduates. Designing of effective tools and regulations to monitor the selling of medication and improving the health education are recommended to ensure responsible SM within the country.

Hazardous drinking is associated with hypnotic consumption in medical students in the BOURBON nationwide study: psychological factors explored.

France has been identified with one of the highest rates of hazardous drinking and hypnotic consumption in Western countries. Medical students have been identified at risk for hazardous drinking yet we lacked of national data on their hypnotic consumption and associated factors to guide public health policies. To determine the prevalence of hazardous drinking and dependence among French medical students and their association with psychotropic drug consumption and psychosocial factors. Medical students were recruited from 35 French universities of medicine through administration mailing lists and social networks, between December 13, 2016 and May 15, 2017. Hazardous drinking was defined by an Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) score ≥ 7 for men and ≥ 6 for women. 10,985 medical students with a mean aged of 21.8years (± 3.3) were included, 32% of which were male. Overall, 3713 (34%) students reported hazardous drinking (41% for men vs. 31% for women) and 820 participants (8%) reported alcohol dependence (12% for men vs. 6% for women). In multivariate analyses, hazardous drinking was independently associated with age, male gender, hypnotic consumption, psychiatric follow-up, mourning, parents divorce, exposure to sexual and physical assault. Alcohol dependence was associated with male gender, tobacco and cannabis consumption, and sexual and physical assault. Second year was reported as the year at higher risk for increased alcohol consumption vs. decreased risk in first and fourth year. Hazardous drinking identified in one third of medical students is associated with hypnotic consumption and some psychological factors suggesting self-medication behavior that could be targeted by psychological interventions.

Self-medication practices and their characteristics among French university students

Inappropriate self-medication can have major impacts on health. The aim of the study was to describe the prevalence and characteristics of self-medication behaviours among undergraduate and postgraduate students from various academic sectors. We also sought to identify determinants of inappropriate self-medication. We performed a descriptive, cross-sectional study based on a self-questionnaire filled out by students from various academic sectors at the University of Picardy (Amiens, France). The survey comprised four sections: sociodemographic characteristics, health status, self-medication behaviour (including the names of medications taken), and knowledge about medications and the risks associated with self-medication. Inappropriate self-medication was defined as the reported administration of a prescription-only medication without a current prescription. A total of 1257 students (715 from the health sector and 542 from other sectors; 983 [78.2%] women) completed the survey. In all, 1194 (95%) students reported self-medication. The most reported reason for self-medication was a supposed good knowledge of medications. The most frequently administered drug classes were analgesics (n=736, 46.7%), and anti-inflammatories/antirheumatics (n=299, 19%). In all, 51.7% (n=617) of the self-medicating students used a medicine from an old prescription including prescription-only drugs (mostly analgesics, antibiotics, and anxiolytics). Female sex, studying for a healthcare degree, having a chronic disease, smoking, having a healthcare professional in the family, and stress were all independently associated with inappropriate self-medication behaviours. Our results showed that self-medication in general and the use of old prescription-only medications in particular are frequent among French university students. At-risk situations identification might facilitate the implementation of educational actions.

Self-medication Pattern and Prevalence Among Iranian Medical Sciences Students.

Self-medication could be risky behavior and has negative effects. While Over the Counter (OTC) drugs are available at drugstores, the behavior has become prevalent among the general population. This study aimed at surveying self-medication behavior among medical sciences students of Shiraz, Iran. A sample of 396 students from medical, paramedical, and health sciences disciplines were included in this cross-sectional study. They were asked to fill a questionnaire about their demographics and socioeconomic status, medication usage and self-medication in the last six months, information about the correct use of medication, and information about negative results of selfmedication. Data were analyzed using chi-square, t-test and logistic regression model using R statistical software. Almost 72% of participants reported self-medication in the past sixth months. The main reasons included trust in their own diagnosis (59.9%), mildness of the disease (56.6%), and having previous experience about the disease (56%). Cough or cold (84.5%), headache (66.3%), and body pain (60.2%) were the most frequent diseases that led to self-medication. The majority of the participants (77.7%) reported they select their medicine on their own decision. Furthermore, self-medication was highly related to having medicine stock at home (OR=2.692), having less information about negative results of self-medication (OR=0.835), and more non-syllabus study time (OR=1.041). Although, medical science students have information about the treatment of illnesses, they should be more informed about negative results and side-effects of self-medication. They should also share their knowledge with society to decrease self-medication.

Application of the Health Belief Model to Change Women's Self-Medication Behavior regarding Prescription-Only Medicines in Yasuj City, Iran

Introduction: Self-medication is one of the challenging health issues among women throughout the world and Iran. Considering the main role of mothers in promoting health within the families, women play a key role in this regard. This study aimed at determining the effect of an educational intervention based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) to change the women's self-medication behavior about consuming Prescription-Only Medicines (POM) in Yasuj City, Iran. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted with a pre-test/post-test design over 192 women under the coverage of urban healthcare centers. These participants were selected by random sampling method and divided into the intervention and control groups. After measuring the constructs of HBM, a tailored intervention was designed and implemented in four weeks. The intervention program consisted of instructional sessions, pamphlet delivery, and short messages (SMS). After three months, educational contends were reevaluated and the results were compared with the pre-intervention data for both groups. Results: No significant difference was observed between the interventional and control groups before and after the intervention (p&gt; 0.05). Comparison of the data collected from the questionnaires administered before and three months after the intervention showed a significant difference between the two groups regarding the perceived susceptibility construct (P = 0.001). Conclusion: Based on the results, the HBM was effective in changing women's self-medication behavior considering the prescription-only medicines. Self-medication can be reduced by increasing the women's perceived susceptibility to medication.