Practice of Self-Medication and Knowledge of Physical Health Effects among Students of Tertiary Institutions in North-central, Nigeria

Abstract

The rise in self-medication due to health issues stemming from side-effects and drug resistance, as reported by various scholars, appears to be a global phenomenon. Although everyone is at some risk of self-medicated drug-related problems, students in tertiary institutions seem to be particularly vulnerable. This study focused not only on the risk-taking behavior involved in self-medicated drug use but also investigated the knowledge of physical health effects as related to the practice of self-medication. The study adopted the cross-sectional research design. The sample consisted of 1950 respondents who were sampled using multi-stage sampling procedure. A set of questionnaire developed and validated by the researchers was used to collect data for the study. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics of Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) and t-test were used to answer the research questions and the hypotheses, respectively. All the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that a high percentage of respondents practiced self-medication. A, the study showed a significant difference between male and female in the knowledge of self-medication with a p-value of 0.0436. While there was no significant difference in knowledge of physical health effects of self-medication. The study revealed that a higher knowledge of physical health effects was associated with a lower practice of self-medication among the respondents. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that health educators should organize health campaign and sensitization programme on self-medication and its health-related hazards, and students should be encouraged on the need to make use of health care facilities.