European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

EXTENT OF THE KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND PRACTICE ON SELF-MEDICATION AMONG SELECTED BENEFICIARIES OF CENTRO ESCOLAR UNIVERSITY ADOPTED COMMUNITY IN BARANGAY 836 PANDACAN, MANILA

Pranada Karla Patricia D.*, Palos Aira Via R., Yagi Mika A., Morta Steffany Denise Anne F., Zayat, Andrea Joyce and Urubio Zyrelle F., Dr. Cecilia D. Santiago PhD and Mylene S. Andal RPh

ABSTRACT

Self-medication uses drugs to treat self-diagnosed disorders or symptoms, which is widely used in developing countries. The implication of self-medication is increasingly recognized as it is a common practice around the globe (Oy, 2018). The lack of appropriate knowledge, attitude, and practice on self-medication promotes irrational drug use and drug- related problems (Susheela, 2018). The descriptive quantitative method is employed in the study as it focuses on the respondents' characteristics, population, and situation. The 354 respondents from the beneficiaries of Centro Escolar University, the Barangay 836 Pandacan, Manila, were selected using random sampling and slovin's formula for the sample size (Shafie, 2018; Tesfamariam, 2019). The survey was adapted and modified, and it contained the respondents' socio-demographic profile, knowledge, attitude, and practice on self-medication with the use of nonprescription drugs. Findings showed that the respondents had sufficient knowledge regarding self- medication, with responses of 9.40% (strongly agree) and 36.79% (agree), 12.23% (neutral), and 9.40% (strongly disagree) and 9.21% (disagree) regarding the statements on the extent of their knowledge. Moreover, with results of 12.34% (strongly agree) and 21.45% (agree), 12.35% (strongly disagree) and 19.06% (disagree), and 17.68% (neutral) on the respondents' response on the extent of their attitude on self-medication denotes uncertainty. Further, the respondents practiced self-medication conflicting with their knowledge, which resulted in 19.77% (strongly agree), 16.13 (agree), 19.77% (strongly disagree), 20.52% (disagree), and 19.87% (neutral) on the statements. This suggests that the respondents have good knowledge and literacy related to self-medication; however, their execution of learnings is poor; thus, inappropriate practice and lack of conviction of self-medication was unavoidable.

Keywords: Beneficiaries, Centro Escolar University, Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Medication, Self-medication.