شبكة المعلومات العربية التربوية

Many people take the role of doctor when it comes to simple and superficial health problems. Self-medication is a global form of self-care practice and can be defined as “taking of drugs, herbs or home remedies on one’s own initiative, or on the advice of another person, without consulting a doctor". The utilization of over-the-counter drugs among university students is common and many studies revealed that there is an increase in trends of self-medications particularly among the youth. There is much public and professional concern about the irrational use of these drugs. The present study was undertaken to determine the pattern, prevalence of self-medication, as well as to estimate the level of knowledge of towards medication safety. Materials and Methods: Nine hundred thirty-eight students were enrolled from different nonmedical majors in the UAE in a descriptive study. Data analysis was performed using SPSS Version 24. The statistical significance level was determined at (p < 0.05). Results. The prevalence of self‑medication in our study was found to be (94. 2%); the major reason cited by participants to self-medicate was minor illness (77.9%). CONCLUSIONS: Self-medication is widely prevalent among the non-medical students in UAE. The study findings address the crucial need to develop structured health education programs to raise knowledge, belief and awareness of the students about responsible self-medication. The health authorities should take strict measures to stop the practice of non-responsible self-medication. (Published abstract)