Comparison of knowledge, attitude and practice about self-medication between Medical and non-Medical students in Arak University in 2013

Background and Objective: Considering the importance of the issue of self-medication consumption of drug, especially among the students with high level of education, the aim of this study was to compare knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication between medical and non-medical students in Arak in 2013.

Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional and analytical study that was carried out on 400 medical and non-medical students in 2013 that were selected by convenience sampling. Data collected with valid and reliable questionnaire consisting knowledge, attitude and practice and finally with appropriate statistical tests were analyzed.

Results: The average of knowledge score was 62.39±21.79, practice was 26.36± 17.82 and attitude was 54.55±16.50 that were obtained from a 100 score. In this study, a significant difference between the median knowledge score (p=0.001) and attitude between medical and non-medical student was observed. Significant direct correlation between age and performance was poor (r=0.16, p=0.001), but significant indirect correlation between the performance of attitude (p=0.001) was observed.

Conclusion: Considering prevalence of self-medication and low attitude of student, therefore it is suggested that education program about harmful self-medication in universities for reduction of self-medication is included.