Abstract

ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF SELF-MEDICATIONS AMONG TEACHERS OF SELECTED SCHOOLS IN KALABURAGI CITY

Jesny Mathew*, Krishna Raj, Kesia Ponnachan and Irshad Alam

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Abstract

Background: Unjustified and inappropriate self-medication results in wastage of health care resources and increases the resistance of pathogens, drug-drug interactions, and adverse drug reactions leading to hospital admissions. Since few studies were conducted among teachers regarding self-medication, the present study was to assess the Knowledge, Attitude & Practice of self-medication among teachers of Kalaburagi city. Aim & Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess the Knowledge, Attitude & Practice of Self-medication among teachers in Kalaburagi city. The objective was to assess the knowledge, indications they prefer for medications, find outgroups of drugs mainly used by them and improve the knowledge of selected group of teachers. Materials and Methods: The study was done on teachers of selected schools in Kalaburagi city. A total of 120 teachers were included. Each subject was given data collection form and Questionnaire for pre & post-test; educational intervention using methods like presentations, interactive discussion and distribution of leaflets about the use of medicines was conducted. For quantitative data analysis, paired t-test was applied. Result: Majority had practiced self-medication for conditions such as headache (81.7%), followed by body pain and fever. The Knowledge score in pre-test was 34.3% which was improved during post-test (70.7%), Attitude (41.8%) & practice (42.4%) scores also improved during post-test. Conclusion: Our findings have shown that teachers lacked proper knowledge and attitude towards SM which was significantly improved during post-test by educational intervention.

Keywords: Self-medication, Drug interaction, Educational interventions.