Document Type : Original Article
Authors
Abstract
Background: The prevalence of self‑medication is high all over the world, especially in Iran.
But there is a paucity of studies to explore self‑medication activities among the university
students. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to determine the self‑medication
among student in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, based on Health Belief
Model (HBM). Materials and Methods: This cross‑sectional study was conducted in 197
medical students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences who were randomly chosen by
a stratified random sampling method in 2009. The data were collected using a validated
and reliable questionnaire based on HBM. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS
software (ver. 16). Descriptive and analytical statistics (independent t‑test and test) were used.
A two-tailed P value lower than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The
mean and standard deviation of participants’ age was 22.00 ± 2.77 years. 67.3% of the sample
consisted of females. The mean scores of knowledge, perceived susceptibility, perceived
severity, perceived benefits, and perceived barrier were 80.36 ± 18.29, 40.92 ± 13.89,
61.48 ± 19.03, 59.11 ± 18.46, and 30.36 ± 12.40, respectively. According to the results,
84.98% of students had experienced self‑medication at least for one disease during the
past 6 months. Conclusions: The prevalence of self‑medication in medical students is high
and we can consider it as a health problem. So, we need educational interventions for the
students, using HBM constructs.
Keywords
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