Effect of questionnaire structure on recall of drug utilization in a population of university students

Abstract

BackgroundSelf-reported data are a common source of information about drug exposure. Modes of data collection differ considerably and the questionnaire's structure may affect prevalence estimates. We compared the recall of medication use evaluated by means of two questionnaires differing in structure and length.MethodsDrug utilization was assessed by two alternative versions of a questionnaire (A – 4 pages, including specific questions for 12 indications/pharmacological groups and one question for "other medicines"; B – 1 page, including 1 open-ended question to cover overall drug consumption). Each of 32 classes in a private University in Maputo, Mozambique, was randomly assigned questionnaire A (233 participants) or B (276 participants). Logistic regression (allowing for clustering by classroom) was used to compare the two groups in terms of socio-demographic characteristics and medication used during the previous month.ResultsOverall, 67.4% of the subjects had used at least one drug during the previous month. The following prevalences were greater among participants completing questionnaire A: use of drugs from two or more pharmacological groups (60.5% vs. 34.4%, p < 0.001), use of two or more drugs (66.2% vs. 43.0%, p < 0.001), and use of antibiotics (14.6% vs. 6.9%, p = 0.001), antifungals (9.4% vs. 4.0%, p = 0.013), antiparasitics (5.6% vs. 1.8%, p = 0.031) and antacids (8.6% vs. 3.6%, p = 0.024). Information about duration of treatment and medical advice was more complete with version A.ConclusionThe indication/drug-specific questions (questionnaire A) revealed a significantly higher prevalence of use of medicines – antibiotics, antifungals, antiparasitics and antacids – without compromising the completeness of the information.

Patterns and determinants of self-medication among university students in Saudi Arabia

“…Findings of previous reports have been remarkably heterogeneous for the majority of the characteristics (in terms of the significance and direction of their relationship with self‐medication) . This inconsistency may represent true indigenous, population‐specific differences, but it is likely that methodological variations play a role . Age and gender are of the few that were frequently shown to be associated with self‐medication .…”

“…[29][30][31]46] This inconsistency may represent true indigenous, population-specific differences, but it is likely that methodological variations play a role. [53] Age and gender are of the few that were frequently shown to be associated with self-medication. [26,49,54] In this study, we found no significant association between age or gender and self-medication.…”

Agreement between different recall periods in drug utilization studies

“…Data were collected exclusively through self-reporting questionnaires, that are either self-administered or administered during face-to-face interviews, used extensively in a variety of health studies, including pharmacoepidemiology studies 1,2 . In the majority of cases, the questionnaires are based on recall questions regarding drug use, requiring short, medium or even long-term memory recall from the respondent 1,[3][4][5] .…”

“…In the majority of cases, the questionnaires are based on recall questions regarding drug use, requiring short, medium or even long-term memory recall from the respondent 1,[3][4][5] . Under-reporting of drug use is considered to result from recall error, even if the error magnitude is not known [6][7][8][9][10][11] .…”

Counterbalancing for serial order carryover effects in experimental condition orders.

“…Similar situations can arise in questionnaire assessments used in social psychology and clinical contexts. For instance, survey results can vary depending on the order of the questions (e.g., Faulkner & Cogan, 1990;Gama, Correia, & Lunet, 2009) and election results can be affected by which candidates precede which on the ballot (e.g. Miller & Krosnick, 1998).…”