[Knowledge, attitude and practice about self-medication among mothers in Arak, Iran]

ABSTRACT

To determine the knowledge, attitude and practice about self-medication among mothers in Arak, Iran. This was a cross-sectional study that was carried out with random sampling on 300 mothers referring to health centers in Arak. The data was collected by a questionnaire and a checklist. For analyzing the data we used the chi-square test' analysis of variance' Pearson correlation and considering significant values of P<0.05. The mean age of mothers was 34.5 +/- 6.6 years and 61.2% of mothers had poor knowledge '28.6% average and 10.2% had good knowledge about correct consumption of drugs. In this study 15.2% of mothers had poor attitude ' 48.5% moderate and 36.3% had positive attitude about self medication. In this study the prevalence of self-medication in mothers was 56.5%. There was a significant relationship between knowledge and practice about self medication [P<0.01]. Self-medication was more common in women having more knowledge than the others. More self-medication was seen among mother with a job and higher education level. The prevalence of self-medication among the mothers was very high and necessarily there should be a program for changing the attitude and the habits of mothers to refer to physician when they are ill