KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND PRACTICES OF SELF-MEDICATION AMONG THE STUDENTS OF PRIVATE UNIVERSITY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22159/ajpcr.2020.v13i8.37989Keywords:
Self-medication, Questionnaire, Knowledge, Attitude, PracticeAbstract
Objectives: Self-medication is becoming very common in our routine life which is an unhealthy and risky practice in a few instances. The present study was carried out to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practice of self-medication among students of Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT).
Methods: A pre-validated questionnaire was prepared and distributed among the students. Data was collected and analyzed using Microsoft Excel and the results expressed as counts and percentages.
Results: A total of 431 students participated voluntarily in the study. The most common reason for taking self-medication was found in 70% of total students. We found that the source of information of the drugs used for self-medication was “previous prescription (57%)” and source of drugs was “medical store (66%).” Only (46%) students accepted the fact that they always visited a qualified practitioner whenever they felt ill. Most of the students took self-medication for headache (82%) followed by cough, cold, and sore throat (62%) and fever (57%). Of total 431 students, most of the students took analgesics (78%) as self-medication followed by lozenges (50%).
Conclusion: Self-medication was common in nearly 70% of university students. They provided the reason that “no needs to visit the doctor for minor illness.” Cough and cold preparations were taken by 82% population as self-medication.
Downloads
References
Musa Y, Awosan KJ, Ibrahim MT, Abdullahi Z, Jafaar MM, Peter G, et al. Knowledge and practice of self-medication among undergraduate students of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. Ann Int Med Dent Res 2016;2:83.
Khamis S, Sheqer H, Arsoy G. Knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication among pharmacy students in North Cyprus. Int J Pharm Sci Res 2019;29:1-10.
Gyawali S, Shankar PR, Poudel PP, Saha A. Knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication among basic science undergraduate medical students in a medical school in western Nepal. J Clin Diagn Res 2015;9:FC17.
Bhatia MK, Ripudaman S, Akashdeep S, Bhardwaj BL. Knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication among undergraduate medical students of Punjab. Glob J Med Res 2017;3:151-4.
World Health Organization. Report of the WHO Expert Committee on National Drug Policies. Geneva: World Health Organization; 1995. https://www.who.int/medicines/library/dap/who-dap-95-9/whp-dap- 95.9.shtml.
Jain S, Malvi R, Purviya JK. Concept of self-medication: A review. Int J Pharm Biol Arch 2011;2:831-6.
Sankdia RK, Agrawal M, Rekha PB, Kothari N. A questionnaire-based study regarding the knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication among second year undergraduate medical students. Int J Pharmacol 2017;6:1-5.
Faiz A, Seema M, Deep I, Shaista A. Self-medication practices and attitude among dental students of a metro city of North India. Int J Biomed Res 2018;4:118-21.
Badiger S, Kundapur R, Jain A, Kumar A, Pattanshetty S, Thakolkaran N, et al. Self-medication patterns among medical students in South India. Med J Aust 2012;5:217-20.
Zafar SN, Syed R, Waqar S, Irani FA, Saleem S. Prescription of medicines by medical students of Karachi, Pakistan: A cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health 2008;8:162.
El Ezz NF, Ez-Elarab HS. Knowledge, attitude and practice of medical students towards self-medication at Ain Shams University, Egypt. Int J Prev Med 2011;52:196-200.
Mehta RK, Sharma S. Knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication among medical students. IOSR Nurs Health Sci 2015;4:89-96.
Klemenc-Ketis Z, Hladnik Z, Kersnik J. Self-medication among healthcare and non-healthcare students at University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Med Prin Pract 2010;19:395-401.
Mumtaz Y, Jahangeer SA, Mujtaba T, Zafar S, Adnan S. Self-medication among university students of Karachi. J Liaquat Univ Med Health Sci 2011;10:102-5.
Raut P, Vamsi D, Rao BV. Evaluation of the knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication among second year B.Sc nursing students. J Drug Deliv Sci Technol 2014;4:150-3.
Thadani S, Salman MT, Ahmad A. Knowledge, Attitude and practice of self-medication among second year undergraduate medical students. J Ration Pharmacother Res 2013;1:131-4.
James H, Handu SS, Al Khaja KA, Otoom S, Sequeira RP. Evaluation of the knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication among first-year medical students. Med Princ Pract 2006;15:270-5.
Montgomery AJ, Bradley C, Rochfort A, Panagopoulou E. A review of self-medication in physicians and medical students. Occup Med 2011;61:490-7.
Kafle KK, Gartoulla RP. Self-medication and its Impact on Essential Drugs Schemes in Nepal: A Socio-cultural Research Project. In: DAP Research Series. Geneva: World Health Organization; 1993.
Kulkarni P, Ajmera A, Gadekar S, Garg A, Mahajan A, Kulkarni P. Global scenario of self-medication: A review of literature. Indian J Commer Manag Stud 2018;9:99-107.
Johnson D, Sekhar HS, Alex T, Kumaraswamy M, Chopra RS. Self medication practice among medical, pharmacy and nursing students. Int J Pharm Pharm Sci 2017;8:443-7.
Ali SE, Ibrahim MIM, Palaian S. Medication storage and self-medication behavior amongst female students in Malaysia. Pharm Pract 2010;8:226-32.
Susheela F, Goruntla N, Bhupalam PK, Veerabhadrappa KV, Sahithi B, Ishrar SM. Assessment of knowledge, attitude, and practice toward responsible self-medication among students of pharmacy colleges located in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh, India. Int J Health Promot Educ 2018;7:96.
Hughes CM, mcelnay JC, Fleming GF. Benefits and risks of self-medication. Drug Saf 2001;24:1027-37.
Aljinović-Vučić V, Trkulja V, Lacković Z. Content of home pharmacies and self-medication practices in households of pharmacy and medical students in Zagreb, Croatia. Croat Med J 2005;46:74-80.
Hailemichael W, Sisay M, Mengistu G. Assessment of knowledge, attitude, and practice of self-medication among Harar health sciences college students, Harar, Eastern Ethiopia. J Drug Deliv Ther 2016;6:31-6.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
The publication is licensed under CC By and is open access. Copyright is with author and allowed to retain publishing rights without restrictions.
