Knowledge, attitudes and practice of self-medication among university students in Portugal: A cross-sectional study

To describe the knowledge, attitudes and practices of self-medication in college students and to analyse the predicting factors for the engagement in that behaviour.

This is a cross-sectional study involving students (n = 840) from a Portuguese university, selected through stratified and proportional sampling. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire containing, in addition to sociodemographic issues, a scale measuring knowledge about self-medication (α = .488), a scale measuring attitudes towards self-medication (α = .708) and questions about the patterns of self-medication practices (α = .445). Differences between outcomes and sociodemographics were analysed through independent t-tests and ANOVA. A generalised linear model was calculated to determine the predictive variables of self-medication.

Over half of the respondents ( 54.3%, n = 434) had used some form of self-medication during the preceding year. Students revealed poor knowledge about the referred practice, correctly answering 1.60 (SD = 0.936) questions in a total of 3, and favourable attitudes towards self-medication (M = 2.17, SD = 0.950, range 1-5). Attending engineering sciences (β = .718, 95% CI: 1.373-3.069, p < .001), being female (β = .866, 95% CI: 1.700-3.327, p < .001) and having negative attitudes towards self-medication (β = .367, 95% CI: 1.227-1.698, p < .001) predict the adoption of those practices.

Self-medication is a common practice among university students, the level of self-medication knowledge is low and the low score of the level of attitudes revealed that students tended to have a correct positioning towards self-medication. Therefore, the recommendation to develop campaigns or educational programmes becomes obvious, in order to inform about the adverse effects of the use of non-prescribed medicine.