The Prevalence of Self Medication and the Factors influencing its Practice in Pharmacy Students of Karachi, Pakistan: A mix mode study

Objective: The study investigated the opinions and beliefs of the pharmacy students towards self medication and highlighted factors which have the potential to indulge them in such practice. Methods: A mix mode cross sectional study was conducted in different pharmacy teaching institutes of Karachi, Pakistan for 2 months. All pharmacy students were included. They were handed a questionnaire related to self medication. Also, they were asked to appear in interviews. The data was analyzed by SPSS v 20. The study was ethically approved. Result: Majority of the students (N=221, 94%) were between 18-23 years and majority were females (N=198, 84.3). Prevalence of self medication was reported at 67.2% (60.8%-73.2% for 95% CI). Mild problems (N=54, 34.2%) and previous experience (N=17, 10.8%) were major reasons in favor of indulging in self medication while importance of physician consultation (N=30, 39%) and fear of adverse drug reactions (N=12, 15.5%) were major reasons against indulgence in self medication. Statistical association was significant between number of siblings and tendency to indulge in self medication (P value<0.05). Conclusion: The economic barriers and familial competition has the potential to prompt an individual to indulge in self medication which is further facilitated by knowledge of pharmacy and ease of availability of prescription drugs.