International Journal of

Science and Engineering Investigations vol. 9, issue 107, December 2020

Received on December 30, 2020 ISSN: 2251-8843

Exploratory Study of Self-Medication Practices among Students

Noora Shrestha
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, PK Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
(shresthanoora@gmail.com)

Abstract-Self-medication is the use of medications by a person Nepal [6,7, 8, 9]. The previous studies have revealed that
without consulting a physician to address a suspected or actual students have tendency to the practice of self-medication due to
health condition. A headache, coldness and a cough, gastritis, their knowledge on self-medication, save time, save doctor’s
and fever are the usual reasons for self-medication. The fees, family and relatives suggestions, and provide quick relief.
purpose of the present exploratory study was two-fold. Firstly, The data analysis on self-medication revealed that most
among management students of Nepal, it was to evaluate self- frequently utilized self-medicated drugs used for headache,
medication practices. Secondly, it was aimed at estimating the cold and cough, gastritis, and fever [4, 8, 9, 10].
prevalence in the sample population of self-medication. The
study employed a cross-sectional exploratory study design. There are many studies of self-medication practices
The study population was the management students studying conducted among the medical students in Nepal [6-9]. The
in the colleges of Kathmandu Valley. A self-administered students associated to medical ground prefer to treat common
questionnaire was administered to 386 management students health problems without consulting a physician or medical
to gather demographic information and the specifics of the use supervision [6, 9]. The social and economic advantages of self-
of self-medication. The prevalence of self-medication was medication reveal the fact that students are willingly preferred
76.4% among the management students. The most prevalent to health problems where they appear attractive. This current
self-medicated health condition was throat pain (56%), study attempts to shed light on the self-medication practices
headache (54.7%), skin rashes (54.1%), and stomach ache among the students who do not belong to the medical field. The
(53.9%). The majority (51.6%) of the students reported that aim of the present study was two-fold. Firstly, it was to assess
they had sought medication directly from pharmacists. self-medication practices among management students in
Recurrent episodes of the same symptoms over time (68%) Nepal. Secondly, it aimed to estimate the prevalence of self-
and the waiting line in the hospital (57%) were the most medication in the study population.
common factors that contributed to self-medication among the
students. The prevalence of self-medication among the
management students indicates that to reduce the adverse
effect of self-medication, it is important to incorporate health II. METHOD
education on self-medication in the academic curriculum. The sample size necessary to estimate population
characteristics given 5% level of sampling error, and unknown
Keywords- Self-medication, Management Students, population size for cross-sectional study is calculated as
Prevalence, Exploratory Research, Cross-sectional Study

I. INTRODUCTION Where, n = sample size, z = standard value of z = 1.96 at α

= 5% or confidence level 95% which means the researcher is
Self-medication encompasses the use of medicinal products confident that the results lie within a certain range. P =
by the purchaser to handle self-recognized disorders or population proportion (50%), and e = margin of error, 5%,
symptoms, or the discontinued or continued use of a which shows that the survey results expect to reflect the views
medication prescribed by a doctor for chronic or recurring of the overall population [11, 12].
diseases or symptoms [1]. It is a human behavior associated
with the self-recognized symptoms in which an individual uses This study employed a descriptive cross-sectional design,
a medicine or a substance to self-administer treatment [2]. In and the study population was the students studying bachelor of
South Asian countries, there is a practice of self-medication management in Kathmandu Valley. The participants were
with the continued improvement in people’s awareness, selected using convenience-sampling method in this
general knowledge, and Internet access. The most commonly exploratory research where the investigator was concerned in
self-medicated substances are over the counter drugs and getting a reasonable approximation of the truth [13]. 400
dietary supplements which are available in supermarkets which students of five colleges in Kathmandu Valley were
are available in supermarkets and convenience stores [2, 3]. approached (in equal proportion) with the help of class
The practice of self-medication has been studied among representatives of each college using text messaging and email.
students of medical colleges in Bangladesh [4], India [5], and The respondent with the digital written consent for voluntary

59
participation, residing in the Kathmandu Valley during study TABLE I. SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS.
period, not having serious health issue, had taken some form of Variables Categories N %
self-medication in the six month period preceding the study,
Male 193 50
and age more than 18 years were the inclusionary criteria. Gender
Female 193 50
The survey’s response rate was 96.5%, which was the 18-21 101 26.25
proportion of participants included in the sample who actually Age (Years) 22-25 157 40.7
completed the questionnaire. It means a total of 386 students
26-30 128 33.2
were sampled with equal percentage of male and female. The
questionnaire was pretested with 15 students who were not Province 1 37 9.6
included in the sample. The ambiguous and double-barreled six Province 2 67 17.4
questions were deleted from the questionnaire. The self- Permanent Bagmati Province 159 41.2
administered, questionnaire survey was conducted Residence of Gandaki Province 51 13.21
electronically in the month of March to April 2020 as the Respondents Lumbini Province 26 6.74
government of Nepal announced first lockdown on 24th March Karnali Province 31 8.03
2020 due to COVID-19 outbreak.
Sudurpaschim Province 15 3.9
The questionnaire was in five sections: section I involved Residing in Lalitpur District 171 44.3
the socio-demographic characteristics of participants; section II District during Kathmandu District 158 40.9
contained questions on self-medication with types of Survey Period Bhaktapur District 57 14.8
conditions; section III covered questions on sources of
Family 201 52.07
information for self-medication; section IV enclosed questions Participants
on benefits of self-medication and section V comprised Rented Room 150 38.86
Living with
questions on factors that influence the practice of self- Hostel 35 9.07
medication. In addition, some open-ended questions were
added at the end of section V. Use of any medicine or drug
from other sources without consulting a doctor was considered B. Conditions Self-medication was used for (Multiple answers
as a self-medication in the current study. The data were allowed)
analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS)
version 23. The qualitative data were measured using nominal Figure 1 illustrates the self-medication for the participants’
scale in section III and IV, and ordinal scale in the IV and V health conditions. The most prevalent conditions needing self-
section of questionnaire. The Likert type scale was used with medication were throat pain (56%), headache (54.7%), skin
‘1’ as strongly agree to ‘5’ as strongly disagree. The data were rashes (54.1%), stomach ache (53.9%), and wound (51.8%).
presented in frequencies, percentages, median, and mode with The other health conditions were fever (48.4%), cough and
the aid of table and bar diagrams. cold (46.9%), diarrhea (49.7%), muscle cramp (48.7%), allergy
(48.4%), and other minor (49.5%).

III. RESULTS
A. Socio-demographic Information 58

56
The analysis and interpretation of the study was based on 56
54.7
the entire samples. The sampling population of participants 53.9 54.1
was very homogeneous with little variance. Table 1 displays 54
Percentage of Respondents

the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants. The 51.8

52
socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents show that
majority (63.5%) of the participants were between ages 20 to 50
49.7 49.5
25 years. The male and female participants were equal in 48.4
48.7
48.4
number. Out of seven federal provinces of Nepal, the 48
46.9
permanent residences of majority of the participants were in
46
Bagmati province (41.19%) followed by province-2 (17.36%)
and Gandaki Province (13.21%). During the survey period, 44
44.3% participants were residing in Lalitpur district, 40.9% of
them were in Kathmandu district, and the least 14.8% of the 42
participants were residing in Bhaktapur district of Bagmati Headache Stomach
ache
Fever Cough and Diarrhoea Throat
cold pain
Muscle
cramp
allergy Skin
rashes
Wound Other
minor
Province. Out of 386 students, 52.07% were living with their Types of Symptoms
family, 38.8% were living in the rented rooms, and the least
9.07% were living in the hostel. 76.4% of the participants Figure 1. Self-medication for the health conditions.
admitted to self-medication practice.

International Journal of Science and Engineering Investigations, Volume 9, Issue 107, December 2020 60
www.IJSEI.com ISSN: 2251-8843 Paper ID: 910720-10
C. Sources of Supply of Medicines (Multiple answers measured using Likert type scale with ‘1’ strongly agree to ‘5’
allowed) strongly disagree. In order to get absolute consensus for the
claims, the percentages of strongly agreed and agreed upon in
Figure 2 demonstrated the sources of drug supply to the figure 3 are summarized. The majority of respondents have
participants. The most common sources that led to self- believed that self-medication can provide early treatment
medication among students were attributed to community (82%).
pharmacists (72.5%), followed by family (51.3%), previous
doctor’s prescription (35.8%), information of drug on the They thought self-medication could provide quick
Internet (32.4%), advertisement of medicines in media symptomatic relief (77%) and economical (77%) as well. More
(26.7%), and the friend circle (25.9%). than half of the respondents considered practice of self-
medication as time saving (68%), and easy and convenient
D. Respondents’ Perception about Benefits of Using Self- (61%). The median value for each statement was obtained as
medication ‘2’ and hence, it can be noted that the participants were likely
Figure 3 displays that the perception of respondents related to agree that the self-medication was beneficial to them.
to the benefits of using self-medication and the data were

80 72.5

70

60
Percentages of Respondents

51.3

50

40 35.8
32.4
25.9 26.7
30

20

10

0
Family Friends Community Previous Adver sement Internet
Pharmacists Prescrip on
Sources of Informa on

Figure 2. Sources of supply of medicines.

Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disgree Strongly disagree

It is easy and convenient. 33% 28% 22% 18% 0%

2%
It provides early treatment. 40% 42% 16% 0%

It is me saving. 32% 36% 13% 19% 1%

It is economical for me. 38% 39% 9% 14% 0%

It provides quick symptoma c relief. 39% 38% 12% 12% 0%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Percentage

Figure 3. Benefits of using self-medication.

International Journal of Science and Engineering Investigations, Volume 9, Issue 107, December 2020 61
www.IJSEI.com ISSN: 2251-8843 Paper ID: 910720-10
 IV. DISCUSSION studies conducted in Nepal as most of the studies, the
A total of 386 valid responses were obtained, giving a participants were medical students but the present study is
response rate of 96.5%. This response rate was attained conducted among management students who practice self-
probably due to leisure time of the students during COVID-19 medication without proper knowledge of medicine and medical
outbreak. Since the response rate was high, the accuracy of the terminology.
survey results is assumed to be higher. B. Reasons for Practicing Self-medication
A. Prevalence of Self-medication Several studies reported different motives for engaging
The findings of this study revealed that the prevalence of self-medication. These includes previous experience,
self-medication was 76.4% among the students studying availability of medications, save time, unfriendly attitude of
bachelor of management. This prevalence is consistent with the health care workers at school clinic, busy schedule of students,
study conducted with medical students in Nepal that reported and clinic far away from home [6]-[10]. The motives are
76.6% prevalence [8], 94.9% among undergraduate medical subject to be different due to the study population and the
students in Kathmandu Valley [6]. Similarly, the prevalence of sampling area. The median and mode values of table 2 portray
self-medication among the medical students in India was that the students were likely to agree with the reasons for
53.57% (average) [5], 88.49% in Bangladesh [4], and 81.8% in practicing self-medication but disagreed with the reason
Nigeria [10]. The present study is different from the previous ‘information available on the Internet’.

TABLE II. REASONS FOR PRACTICING SELF-MEDICATION

Choices
Reasons Median Mode
1 2 3 4 5
Suggestion of family members and relatives 2 2 28% 29% 23% 20% 0%
Recurrent episodes of the same symptoms 2 1 38% 30% 32% 0% 0%
Waiting line in the hospital 2 2 28% 30% 19% 23% 0%
Difficulties to access clinic and hospital 2 2 25% 27% 24% 24% 0%
Access to online medicine shopping 2 1 32% 23% 19% 26% 0%
Information available on the internet. 3 4 24% 24% 24% 28% 0%
(1- strongly agree, 2- agree, 3- neutral, 4- disagree, 5- strongly disagree)

The most common factors that led to self-medication the nearby pharmaceutical shop. The common medicines they
among the students were attributed to suggestion of family and have used for various health conditions were Paracetamol,
relatives (57%), recurrent episodes of the same symptoms over Nimesulide, Pudinhara pearls, Digene, Metronidazole, Eno,
the time (68%), difficulties to access clinic and hospital (52%), Aciloc, Avomine, Cough syrup, Strepsils, Ibuprofen, Sinex,
waiting line in the hospital (58%), and access to online Antibiotics, Flexon, Betadin, and Ointment.
medicine shopping (55%). These values were obtained by
summing up the percentage of strongly agreed and agreed upon The question ‘How did you get medicine for your health
to achieve absolute consensus. condition?’ was part of questionnaire. Majority (51.6%) of the
participants reported that they directly requested to the
According to Central Bureau of Statistics (2011), 41% of pharmacists, 28.2% mentioned they used left over or stored
rural households of Nepal did not have access to a health post drugs at home, 12.2% of them stated they used past
or sub-health post, and 79.6% of rural households did not have prescription written for them, 4.4% specified sometimes they
access to a public hospital within half an hour of their home. In used prescription written for a family member, and the least
addition, 92% of the rural households could not access (3.6%) revealed that they used drugs brought for a family
healthcare with public bus (40%) or as pedestrians (50%) [14]. member. Majority (48.4%) of the participants mentioned the
There is lack of health facilities and uneven distribution of the name of the medicines to the pharmacists and purchased the
existing ones in each province of Nepal [15]. This bitter truth medicine. 40.9% of them purchased medicine by telling the
could force respondents to practice self-medication because symptoms of their health condition and taking advice of the
73% of the respondent’s permanent residence belongs to rural pharmacists. 5.7% of the participants mentioned the group of
area and 27% of them have their permanent residence in urban medicine and 4.9% of them used previous prescription to
area of Nepal. purchase the medicines.
C. Medicines Used for Health Condition The practice of self-medication can have an adverse effect
The study participants were the students from management on the health of the participants, but the influence of self-
faculty and hence, they were not familiar with the medical medication on the health of respondents was not analyzed in
terminologies. When they were asked to name the medicine this cross-sectional study. Less than half of participants
they used for particular health condition, most of them reported (39.4%) confirmed that they complete the dose of drugs
that it depends on the availability of medicines at home or in according to the requirement, but 60.6% of the students
reported that they did not complete the dosage when they felt

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www.IJSEI.com ISSN: 2251-8843 Paper ID: 910720-10
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