A study of self-medication practice among Libyan patients in Tripoli city
Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, University of Tripoli, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tripoli-Libya.
Research Article
International Journal of Frontiers in Life Science Research, 2022, 02(02), 046–052.
Article DOI: 10.53294/ijflsr.2022.2.2.0021
Publication history:
Received on 01 January 2022; revised on 11 April 2022; accepted on 13 April 2022
Abstract:
Background: Self-medication practicing is continuously increasing in the world as a cause of its importance in curing minor symptoms.
Aim: This study aimed to assess self-medication factors coupled with Libyan respondents residing in Tripoli city.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed from May to July 2018 in Tripoli city. Data was collected using a previously prepared questionnaire from 160 respondents from different age groups. A descriptive analysis was used for data analysis using SPSS version 20.
Results: A self-medication practice of a total of 160 respondents were in this study whose ages ranged from 15 to 60 years. Female was the majority of respondents (58.8%). About 51% of the studied population was at the university level while (31.2%) were literate, and a very small portion of the studied population was illiterate (11.9%). Most of the respondents (46%) practiced self-medication each 6 months once or even longer; however, a small portion of respondents (14.4%) stayed on practiced self-medication weekly.
In this study the major reasons why participants practiced self-medication without a prescription were previous experience with the condition (45%), high treatment cost (5.6%) of respondents was the reason for self-decision. The source of information of medicines used for self-medication (37.5%) has information from the previous prescription, while (27.5%) received information from community pharmacy.
Conclusion: Our results confirmed that self-medication practice is a fairly frequent problem in our community; therefore, the community should be educated regarding the adverse effects of drugs to avoid complications arising regarding self-medication. Therefore, Pharmacists can play an important role to make people informed about self-care choices.
Keywords:
Self-medication; Prescription; Medicines; Libya
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