The Frequency of Self-medication and Its Effective Factors in Students and Their Peer Group in the City of Boukan in 2016: A Descriptive Study

Self-medication is considered as the most common form of self-care, which can compromise the health of various people in the community, especially students who are in a more prone environment for taking medications. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of self-medication and the factors affecting it among students and peers in Boukan city in 2016.

In this descriptive study, 600 students and nonstudent peer group of Boukan city were selected using cluster sampling and simple random sampling and studied in 2016. Data was collected using a researcher-made questionnaire and analyzed using independent t-test and chi-square test.

The mean and standard deviation of students' and peer group’s age were 21.41 ± 3.10 and 23.44±3.39 years (p=0.122), respectively. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of arbitrary use of drugs (p=0.448). Also, the most commonly used drugs in the studied participants were Acetaminophen, Cold tablets and Antibiotics. The unnecessary need to see a doctor, having no time to visit health centers and not considering the disease important were reported as the most common causes of self-medication.

The results of this study showed that there is a high degree of arbitrary use of drugs. Therefore, it is necessary to develop training and prevention programs to reduce this inappropriate behavior and to incorporate it in the future programs of the relevant organizations.

 This study was funded by Urmia University of Medical Sciences. Conflict of interest: None declared

The Ethics Committee of Urmia University of Medical Sciences approved the study (1394-0-33-1698).