<p>University students’ knowledge, attitudes, and practice regarding antibiotic use and associated factors: a cross-sectional study in the United Arab Emirates</p>

Abstract

Purpose: Antibiotic resistance is one of the world’s most fatal health crises. Medical students are the antibiotic prescribers of tomorrow, so better understanding of their knowledge, attitudes, and practice (KAP) pertaining to antibiotic use is crucial. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the KAP of antibiotics and associated factors among university students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among a random sample of undergraduate students from Ajman University in the UAE. A self-administered pretested questionnaire was used to collect data on students’ demographics and their KAP regarding antibiotic use. Data were analysed using STATA version 14.2. P <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: This study showed that university students have a high rate of antibiotic self-medication. The average KAP score was 56% (95% CI 55%–57%). Statistical modeling showed that major, study year, age, and sex were strong determinants of KAP regarding antibiotic use. Conclusion: There is a need to develop an effective and comprehensive antibiotic-stewardship program as part of undergraduate education. Moreover, reinforcing antibiotic-use policies, involving pharmacies, drug supply, distribution, and sale, are also urgently needed.

Antibiotic use and resistance: an unprecedented assessment of university students’ knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) in Lebanon

“…However, they found that but senior medical students have more positive behavior on the usage of antibiotics compared with low grade medical students and non-medical students in general [13]. Same pattern was observed by another study of medical school students scoring remarkably better than those the non-medical school in KAP towards antibiotic use and resistance [8]. In another study, it was found that 80% of nursing and dentistry students in Babylon University, Iraq have high knowledge but inappropriate attitude [11], results which were similarly found among Indian and Sudanese medical university students [9,14].…”

“…Similarly, Jifar and Ayele in 2018, reported that 83% of respondents in Harar city, Eastern of Ethiopia, replied that antibiotics speed up the recovery colds [17]. On the other hand, Jairoun and his colleagues have reported in 2019 that the large majority of university students were aware that antibiotics can kill bacteria and can be used to cure bacterial infections [8]. Moreover, Khajuria et al 2019 showed that 90% of medical students agreed that antibiotics are useful for bacterial infections [12].…”

“…A structured questionnaire was designed and developed by the research team based on literature review and was adapted to cover all the main key points of the research topic (antibiotic use and resistance). The adopted questions were mainly based on previous studies [7,8,[17][18][19] and were slightly adapted to the context of the conditions in Lebanon. A pilot study was conducted among 12 students to assess the reliability and validity of the instrument.…”

“…Antibiotic self-medication has become a serious concern and a leading cause of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic self-medication can result from many factors, such as poor public knowledge and attitude towards antibiotics, easy access to antibiotics in many places and lack of awareness policies on appropriate antibiotic usage [8]. Numerous studies have reported improper antibiotic use among university students due to self-medication and lack of adequate knowledge of antibacterial agents.…”

“…The assessment of knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) on a representative sample of university students could be an efficient tool to help improve the use of antibiotics [10]. Jairoun and colleagues (2019), after conducting a KAP study related to the use of antibiotics among university students in the United Arab Emirates, recommended in their conclusions the development of comprehensive programs and effective educational interventions to remediate the gap in the medical curriculum leading to self-medication practice [8]. In the same year, Al-Salih and colleagues, after conducting a study about knowledge and attitude regarding antibiotic use among nursing and dentistry students in Babylon University (Iraq), have concluded that despite their knowledge about the appropriate antibiotic use, students lacked in the appropriate attitude [11].…”