Information sources, attitudes, and practices of Self-Medication by Jordanian patients: A cross-sectional study

Walid Al-Qerem; Afnan Bargooth; Anan Jarab; Amal Akour; Shrouq Abu Heshmeh

doi:10.1016/j.jsps.2023.01.015

Information sources, attitudes, and practices of Self-Medication by Jordanian patients: A cross-sectional study

Saudi Pharm J. 2023 Apr;31(4):482-491. doi: 10.1016/j.jsps.2023.01.015. Epub 2023 Feb 1.

Authors

Walid Al-Qerem¹, Afnan Bargooth¹, Anan Jarab^{2

3}, Amal Akour^{4

5}, Shrouq Abu Heshmeh²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacy, Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan, Amman 11733, Jordan.
² Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jordan University of Science and Technology. P.O. Box 3030. Irbid 22110, Jordan.
³ Collage of Pharmacy, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
⁴ Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, United Arab Emirates.
⁵ Department of Biopharmaceutics and Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, The University of Jordan, Jordan.

Abstract

Background and objective: Self-medication (SM) has significantly increased worldwide in the past decades, which may have detrimental health consequences including antimicrobial resistance, adverse drug reactions, drug-drug interaction, and dependency. Although several studies have evaluated the extent of SM, such studies are still limited in Jordan. The aim of this study was to explore sources of SM information, attitudes toward SM and the practice of SM and its associated factors.

Methods: The data of this cross-sectional study was collected between February and July 2022. A validated questionnaire was distributed to patients attending pharmacies from different locations in Jordan. The survey evaluated sources of information and attitudes toward SM, extent of SM practice, and attitudes towards SM, symptoms that the participants treat with SM and those that usually requires medical doctor consolation, followed by questions about the classes of medications mostly used for SM and the reasons for SM.

Results and discussion: The study enrolled 695 Jordanian adults. The most reported indications for SM included headache (86.9 %), flu (76.4 %), and fever (69.6 %). The most common causes for SM included previous knowledge about the diseases and its treatments (84.2 %), and full knowledge of the medicine to be purchased (55.2 %). Results of the ordinal regression showed that physician counseling frequency was positively and significantly associated with "not being on chronic medication" (p-value = 0.001), and having a positive SM attitude level (p-value = 0.019), while negatively correlated with being in medical field (p-value < 0.001), having no children (p-value = 0.009), and relaying on non-scientific sources to obtain information for SM (p-value = 0.014). The frequency of SM practice was positively associated with being in medical field (p-value < 0.001, having no insurance (p-value < 0.001), and relaying on nonscientific sources (p-value = 0.017). Lastly, having a positive SM attitude level (p-value < 0.001) and not being on chronic medications (p-value = 0.007) were associated with decreased SM practice.

Conclusion: The study participants demonstrated increased SM practice due to the wrong perceptions toward SM and the reliance on non-scientific source of information about SM practice.

Keywords: Attitude; Practice; Self-Medication; Side effects; Source of information.