Al-Qerem Walid, Bargooth Afnan, Jarab Anan, Akour Amal, Abu Heshmeh Shrouq
Department of Pharmacy, Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan, Amman 11733, Jordan.
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jordan University of Science and Technology. P.O. Box 3030. Irbid 22110, Jordan.
Saudi Pharm J. 2023 Apr;31(4):482-491. doi: 10.1016/j.jsps.2023.01.015. Epub 2023 Feb 1.
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.
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.
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.
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.
在过去几十年里，自我药疗（SM）在全球范围内显著增加，这可能会对健康产生有害影响，包括抗菌药物耐药性、药物不良反应、药物相互作用和药物依赖。尽管有几项研究评估了自我药疗的程度，但在约旦此类研究仍然有限。本研究的目的是探索自我药疗信息的来源、对自我药疗的态度、自我药疗的实践情况及其相关因素。
本横断面研究的数据于2022年2月至7月收集。向来自约旦不同地点的药店就诊患者发放了一份经过验证的问卷。该调查评估了信息来源、对自我药疗的态度、自我药疗实践的程度、对自我药疗的态度、参与者用自我药疗治疗的症状以及那些通常需要医生会诊的症状，随后是关于最常用于自我药疗的药物类别以及自我药疗原因的问题。
该研究纳入了695名约旦成年人。报告最多的自我药疗适应症包括头痛（86.9%）、流感（76.4%）和发烧（69.6%）。自我药疗最常见的原因包括对疾病及其治疗的既往了解（84.2%），以及对要购买药物的充分了解（55.2%）。有序回归结果显示，医生咨询频率与“未服用慢性药物”呈正相关且具有显著统计学意义（p值 = 0.001），以及与对自我药疗持积极态度水平呈正相关（p值 = 0.019），而与从事医疗行业呈负相关（p值 < 0.001），没有孩子呈负相关（p值 = 0.009），以及依赖非科学来源获取自我药疗信息呈负相关（p值 = 0.014）。自我药疗实践频率与从事医疗行业呈正相关（p值 < 0.001），没有保险呈正相关（p值 < 0.001），以及依赖非科学来源呈正相关（p值 = 0.017）。最后，对自我药疗持积极态度水平（p值 < 0.001）和未服用慢性药物（p值 = 0.007）与自我药疗实践减少相关。
由于对自我药疗的错误认知以及对自我药疗实践的非科学信息来源的依赖，本研究参与者的自我药疗实践有所增加。
