Prevalence and related factors for choosing self-medication among pharmacies visitors based on health belief model in Hamadan Province, west of Iran.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Self-medication has increased in the last decade in Iran; can be followed several complications. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and factors influencing self-medication based on health belief model. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1400 Hamadan Province pharmacies visitors, during spring and summer 2012 which was randomly selected with the proportional to size among different pharmacy at Hamadan for participation in this study. A structured questionnaire was applied for collecting data, which were analyzed by SPSS version 16 using bivariate correlations and logistic regression statistical tests. RESULTS: 35.4% of the participants had self-medication. Pain medication (10.6%), antibiotics (7.3%) and anti-cough and cold medications (4.5%) had the largest consumption. The main reasons of self-medication among participants were previous use of medication, symptoms improve and similar prescribed. The best predictor for self-medication was perceived severity with odds ratio estimate of 0.790 [95% CI 0.694, 0.900]. CONCLUSION: It seems that designing and implementation of educational programs to increase seriousness about side effect of self-medication may be usefulness of the results in order to prevent of self-medication.