Knowledge and behavior of Saudi female university students towards Self-Medication

Hanan H Alahmed; Eman M.Almussaed; Shereen Younes

doi:10.21767/2572-5483-C1-003

Knowledge and behavior of Saudi female university students towards Self-Medication

9^th Edition of International Conference on Preventive Medicine & Public Health
July 16-17, 2018 London, UK

Hanan H Alahmed, Eman M.Almussaed and Shereen Younes

Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh ,Saudi Arabia

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Prev Med

DOI: 10.21767/2572-5483-C1-003

Abstract

Background: Self- medication is considered a fairly common practice worldwide. A recent study in the UK showed that an estimated of 20% of the population choose to self-diagnose themselves versus seeking medical advice. Self-medication is considered a fairly common practice. It has a harmful side, since it might lead to wasting of resources ,development resistance, drugs reactions or dependency, misdiagnosis, accidental overdoses and addiction development. Methods: Cross-sectional based study conducted to University students aged 18-26 through a self administered questionnaire to collect the data from all college students with no exception over 6 months. Results: A total sample size of 500 students, their mean age was from 25-21, most of them were from science faculty 191 (38.8%),bachelor level of education was the most 416 (83.2%),single students made the mass of the study 461 ( 92.2%). A 413 (82.6%) of total 500 have tried Self-Medication,189(37.8%) choose drugs, most common used was Analgesic 227(45.4%) ,the most frequent symptoms was stomach pain and headache 150 (30%), 145 (29%) took the medication from their relatives, there was illness improvement among most of them 363 (72,6%),while least 21(4.2%) went to ER due to it. Most of the responses regarding health care system were positive. Conclusion: We found that Self- Medication practice is highly prevalent in our University, even though most results of their treatment was improving, the 4% who went to ER is enough indicator that this act is dangerous and thus we need to do more awareness activities regarding it.