Behavior, attitudes and knowledge about antibiotic usage among residents of Changhua, Taiwan

This study surveyed the behavior, attitudes, and knowledge about antibiotic usage among residents of Changhua County, Taiwan. A questionnaire designed to evaluate general knowledge and attitudes towards antibiotic usage was administered to a total of 1024 adults. The male-to-female ratio was 0.75. All of the 1024 adults were aware of the term "antibiotics". Only 39.2% of subjects had knowledge about basic antibiotic terminology, 69.7% expected that physicians should educate people about antibiotics. There were 7 main findings of this study: (1) 52.7% of subjects considered that physicians advice about the need for compliance was poor; (2) 15.3% of subjects always requested an antibiotics prescription when they suffered from flu-like symptoms; (3) 49.8% failed to comply with prescribed antibiotic regimens; (4) 53.1% of subjects were not aware that antibiotic syrup should be stored in the refrigerator; (5) 27.1% of subjects lacked knowledge about how to deal with the misuse of antibiotics; (6) 9.3% of pregnant and breast-feeding subjects did not have adequate knowledge of the safety of using antibiotics during pregnancy; and (7) 30% of subjects did not know how to obtain information about antibiotic usage. Residents of Changhua County had inadequate or incorrect knowledge about antibiotic usage. The findings of this study imply the need for programs to promote greater education about antibiotics usage in the general population of Taiwan.