Perceived Self-medication Practices and Associated Factors among Undergraduates of the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences (FHS), SLIIT.

Abstract

This study is aimed to determine the perceived self-medication practices, associated factors, and awareness on contraindications related to self-medication among undergraduates. A random sample of 138 undergraduates of FoHS, SLIIT was selected and data were acquired from a pretested questionnaire. It was found that only 87% of the respondents had practiced self-medication in the past 3 month’s period. The presence of chronic illnesses was significantly associated with self-medication practices (p< 0.05). There was a significant association between the level of selfmedication practices and both the variety of medicines (p=0.006) and prior experience with the self-medication related side effects (p=0.05). Headache (82.9%) and common cold (44.1%) were the major health conditions for self-medication, while painkillers (83.2%) and vitamins and minerals (47.8%) were the mostly used types of medicines. Covid-19 restrictions (48.4%) and unnecessary consultation for mild illnesses (44.0%) were recognized as the major reasons for self-medication. Based on results raising awareness on self-medication by conducting educational programs in pharmaceutical aspects is recommended to improve healthy medicinal compliance among the undergraduate population.