A study of self-medication practice among Libyan patients in Tripoli city

Abstract

Background: Self-medication practicing is continuously increasing in the world as a cause of its importance in curing minor symptoms. Aim: This study aimed to assess self-medication factors coupled with Libyan respondents residing in Tripoli city. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed from May to July 2018 in Tripoli city. Data was collected using a previously prepared questionnaire from 160 respondents from different age groups. A descriptive analysis was used for data analysis using SPSS version 20. Results: A self-medication practice of a total of 160 respondents were in this study whose ages ranged from 15 to 60 years. Female was the majority of respondents (58.8%). About 51% of the studied population was at the university level while (31.2%) were literate, and a very small portion of the studied population was illiterate (11.9%). Most of the respondents (46%) practiced self-medication each 6 months once or even longer; however, a small portion of respondents (14.4%) stayed on practiced self-medication weekly. In this study the major reasons why participants practiced self-medication without a prescription were previous experience with the condition (45%), high treatment cost (5.6%) of respondents was the reason for self-decision. The source of information of medicines used for self-medication (37.5%) has information from the previous prescription, while (27.5%) received information from community pharmacy. Conclusion: Our results confirmed that self-medication practice is a fairly frequent problem in our community; therefore, the community should be educated regarding the adverse effects of drugs to avoid complications arising regarding self-medication. Therefore, Pharmacists can play an important role to make people informed about self-care choices.