A Comparative Study to Assess the Self-Reported Practices of Over-the-Counter Medications Uses among Adults in Urban and Rural Community
Journal Title: Journal of Nursing Today - Year 2017, Vol 5, Issue 1
Abstract
Self medication is a human behavior in which an individual uses a substance or any exogenous influence to self administer treatment for physical or psychological ailments. The most widely self medicated substances are over–the-counter drugs used to treat common health issues at home. Self-medication is often seen as gaining personal independence from established medicine and it can be seen as human right, implicit in or closely related to the right to refuse professional medical treatment. In India, though the phrase ‘over the counter drugs’ has no legal recognition, so all the drugs not included in the list of ‘prescription drugs’ are considered as OTC drugs Objectives: 1. Assess the self reported practices of over-the- counter medication uses among adults in urban and rural community. 2. To categorize the common medications used among adults in urban and rural community. 3. To compare & categorize the common medications used among adults in urban &rural community. Setting: Urban community of Yerwada and rural community of Loni Kalbhore. Participants: Adults (18-60 years) of urban and rural community , 500 participants from each community. The sample were chosen according to non -probability purposive sampling. Methods: The tool, questionnaire was prepared to collect the data related to self-reported practices of over-the- counter medication uses. The tool consists of semi-structured questionnaire, which has two sections. After obtaining the informed consent, All participants were given the questionnaire related to demographic data and practices of over-the- counter medication uses among adults Results: Age of starting self-medication: The age of using self-medication in urban community is (32%) at 18-20yrs, whereas (25%) in rural community. Common ailments of use of self-medication: Regarding the use of OTC for self-medication, adults were mostly prompted due to cough/ cold and headache were the most common, followed by pain and fever . This could have been because of cough/cold / headache are the most common symptom that we encounter in day to day life of urban community where as Pain and fever were the most common symptoms in rural community . Commonly use drugs for self-treatment : The drugs which were frequently used for selfmedication in our study were antipyretic and analgesic followed by cough expectorant were in urban and rural community. The commonly used drug for self-treatment in our study was crosin (32%) in urban community (24%) in rural community ,followed by cough syrup. Treatment Modalities : Apart from treatment prescribe by general practitioner other treatment modalities are Traditional healers (33%) in urban community whereas (27%) in rural community followed by homeopathy in both communities Conclusion: This study shows that majority of the participants were aware of OTC drugs and self-medication is widely practiced among them. Cough/Cold/ Headache were the most common ailments for seeking self-medication and analgesics, antipyretics were the most common drugs used. Confidence in self-medication, finding difficulty in going- to doctor where the some of the reasons for using OTC drugs. Majority of the participants used media advertisements as the source of information to know about OTC drugs. Large number of Adults was aware of package insert/prescription label and also they followed label instructions while self-medicating. There is a need to create awareness and educate students regarding advantages and disadvantages of self-medication by the teaching faculties in the institutions.
Authors and Affiliations
Jaya John Varghese, Shinde Sonal, D’souza Joanita, Attar Nilofar, Thange Pratibha, Awate Asha
Keywords
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