European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

PRACTICE OF SELF MEDICATION AMONG ADOLESCENTS: EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING PROGRAMME ON KNOWLEDGE REGARDING ADVERSE EFFECTS OF SELF-MEDICATION AT MANGALURU

Shycil Mathew* and Jibin Jose

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Self-medication is a major form of self-care. It involves the use of medicinal products by the consumer to treat self-recognized disorders, symptoms, recurrent diseases, or minor health problems. Many young individuals irrespective of age and sex go for self-medicated drugs without actual knowledge of the adverse effect of the medication. They can cause severe and fatal damage to any organs of the body. In this regard people need to be concertized of the likely adverse effects of these drugs. Objectives: To identify the practice of self-medication and to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching programme on adverse effects of self-medication among adolescents in a selected colleges at Mangaluru. Methods: A quantitative research approach with pre experimental one group pre test post test design was used for the study. Sixty adolescents were selected by non-probability purposive sampling technique from selected colleges. A structured practice questionnaire to identify the practice of self medication and structured knowledge questionnaire to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching program was used to collect data and the collected data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The result showed that 50% of adolescents practiced self medication. There was a marked improvement in the knowledge score after the administration of teaching program Conclusion: The need for further improvement in knowledge still exists in this area. The researcher emphasizes the role of doctors, health professionals and social workers in promoting the knowledge of adolescents on adverse effects of self medication.

Keywords: Adolescents, Effectiveness, knowledge, self medication.