Parental health-seeking behavior on self-medication, antibiotic use, and antimicrobial resistance in children

Premalatha Paulsamy; Krishnaraju Venkatesan; Shadia Hamoud Alshahrani; Maha Hamed Mohamed Ali; Kousalya Prabahar; Vinoth Prabhu Veeramani; Nahid Khalil Elfaki; Rasha Elsayed Ahmed; Hala Ahmed Elsayes; Yahya Hussein Ahmed Abdalla; Osman Babiker Osmsn Mohammed; Absar Ahmed Qureshi; Friyal Alqahtani; Sirajudeen Shaik Alavudeen

doi:10.1016/j.jsps.2023.101712

Parental health-seeking behavior on self-medication, antibiotic use, and antimicrobial resistance in children

Saudi Pharm J. 2023 Sep;31(9):101712. doi: 10.1016/j.jsps.2023.101712. Epub 2023 Aug 2.

Authors

Premalatha Paulsamy¹, Krishnaraju Venkatesan², Shadia Hamoud Alshahrani¹, Maha Hamed Mohamed Ali³, Kousalya Prabahar^{4

5}, Vinoth Prabhu Veeramani⁴, Nahid Khalil Elfaki⁶, Rasha Elsayed Ahmed^{7

8}, Hala Ahmed Elsayes^{9

10}, Yahya Hussein Ahmed Abdalla⁶, Osman Babiker Osmsn Mohammed¹¹, Absar Ahmed Qureshi¹², Friyal Alqahtani¹³, Sirajudeen Shaik Alavudeen¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Nursing, Mahala Branch for Girls, King Khalid University, Asir, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, King Khalid University, Abha, Asir, Saudi Arabia.
³ Faculty of Medical and Applied Science, Public Health Department, King Khalid University, Asir, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Tabuk, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Dr. M.G.R. Educational and Research Institute, Velappanchavadi, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
⁶ College of Nursing, Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Medical-Surgical Nursing, College of Nursing, Tanta University, Egypt.
⁸ College of Nursing, Mahala Branch for Girls King Khalid University, Asir, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Tanta University, Egypt.
¹⁰ Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, King Abdul Aziz University, Saudi Arabia.
¹¹ Public Health, Al-Baha University, Saudi Arabia.
¹² Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, King Khalid University, Abha, Asir Province, Saudi Arabia.
¹³ Department of Community Nursing, College of Nursing, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁴ Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Aim and objectives: The study sought to identify parental trends in children's self-medication, health-seeking behavior, knowledge of self-medication, antibiotic use, and antimicrobial resistance in Asir, Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A web-based cross-sectional study was carried out by a survey questionnaire. Snow Ball sampling technique was used to select the Eight hundred and sixteen parents with children in the Asir region by WhatsApp and email, and 650 participants who met the inclusion criteria consented to participate in the study.

Results: There were 1809 episodes of childhood illnesses reported during the study period. The mean scores are on knowledge at 8.11 ± 2.43, favorable attitude at 17.60 ± 1.17, and practice was 7.72 ± 1.72, and a significant correlation was found between knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) at p = 0.01. Out of 624, the majority of parents showed strong knowledge and proficiency in antibiotics. However, the attitude scores of over 50% towards the usage of antibiotics were subpar. Around 54% of parents were self-medicating their children and 43% were unaware that skipping doses contributes to anti-microbial resistance (AMR). The facilitators for self-medication were male gender (aOR: 2.13; 95% CI: 1.26-3.98, p < 0.05), having more children (aOR: 2.78; 95% CI: 1.27-4.12 p < 0.01), professional qualification (aOR:3.07; 95% CI 1.57- 4.68; p < 0.01), residing in urban area (aOR: 3.17; 95% CI: 2.13-5.61, p < 0.05), working in health care (aOR: 5.99; 95% CI: 1.78-18.2, p < 0.01) and high income (aOR: 3.57; 95% CI: 2.08-6.34, p < 0.05).

Conclusions: The findings indicated that the majority of parents had unfavorable views and improper practices of antibiotic usage. Strategic education programs to the targeted population, especially to the parents about side effects of antibiotics, dangerous consequences of self-medication, and crucial AMR concerns must be addressed immediately.

Keywords: Antibiotics; Antimicrobial resistance; Attitude; Children; Health seeking behavior; Knowledge; Parents; Self-medication.