TY - JOUR
T1 - Medicine vendors: Self-medication practices and medicine knowledge
AU - Auta, Asa
AU - Omale, Simeon
AU - Folorunsho, Temitope J.
AU - David, Shalkur
AU - Banwat, Samuel B.
PY - 2012/1/31
Y1 - 2012/1/31
N2 - Background: Medicine vendors fill the gap created by inadequate skilled professionals required for medicine procurement, storage, and distribution in developing countries. Aim: To evaluate self-medication practice and medicine knowledge among medicine vendors and to determine if a relationship exists between both. Materials and Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted, using a pretested questionnaire on 236 medicine vendors in Jos, Nigeria, sampled through a two-stage stratified design. Data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16, and the chi-square test was used to determine the association between variables. Results: Self-medication was common (75.4%) among respondents and was not associated (P>0.05) with any of the demographic characteristics studied. The classes of medicines commonly used by respondents for self-medication were analgesics (31.4%), anti-malarials (22.6%), multivitamins (17.7%), and antibiotics (11.25%). A knowledge assessment test revealed that only 34.3% of the respondents had adequate knowledge. There was no significant (P>0.05) relationship between self-medication practice and medicine knowledge, among the respondents. However, the medicine knowledge scores were significantly (P[removed]
AB - Background: Medicine vendors fill the gap created by inadequate skilled professionals required for medicine procurement, storage, and distribution in developing countries. Aim: To evaluate self-medication practice and medicine knowledge among medicine vendors and to determine if a relationship exists between both. Materials and Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted, using a pretested questionnaire on 236 medicine vendors in Jos, Nigeria, sampled through a two-stage stratified design. Data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16, and the chi-square test was used to determine the association between variables. Results: Self-medication was common (75.4%) among respondents and was not associated (P>0.05) with any of the demographic characteristics studied. The classes of medicines commonly used by respondents for self-medication were analgesics (31.4%), anti-malarials (22.6%), multivitamins (17.7%), and antibiotics (11.25%). A knowledge assessment test revealed that only 34.3% of the respondents had adequate knowledge. There was no significant (P>0.05) relationship between self-medication practice and medicine knowledge, among the respondents. However, the medicine knowledge scores were significantly (P[removed]
KW - Medicine knowledge
KW - Medicine vendors
KW - Self-medication
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84857163825&partnerID=MN8TOARS
U2 - 10.4103/1947-2714.92899
DO - 10.4103/1947-2714.92899
M3 - Article (journal)
SN - 2250-1541
VL - 4
SP - 24
EP - 28
JO - North American Journal of Medical Sciences
JF - North American Journal of Medical Sciences
IS - 1
ER -