Self-care of common illnesses among secondary school students in Ughelli – south local government area, Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

his study focused on Self-Care of Common Illnesses among Secondary School Students in Ughelli – South Local Government Area, Delta State, Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The sample of this study comprised of 330 male and female students. A validated self structured questionnaire was used for data collection. It has a reliability of 0.78. Chi-square (X2) was used to test all the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that parents mostly influence students to self-care, the availability of drugs influence students to selfcare and greater proportion of students who mostly used analgesics (drug) arbitrarily for self-care were not aware of the danger of side effects of these drugs. It was therefore recommended that drug education must start in the students’ early life. School-based health education can start even in primary schools and be implemented through the joint responsibility of both the parents, teachers, schools, the community and the government. T European Journal of Business and Social Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 11, February 2016. P.P. 01 09 URL: http://www.ejbss.com/recent.aspx-/ ISSN: 2235 -767X EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 2 INTRODUCTION Self-care is a process by which people function on their own behalf in health promotion and prevention and in disease detection and treatment at the level of the primary health resource in the healthcare system. Self-care involves the use of medicinal products by the consumer to treat self recognized disorder, symptoms, recurrent diseases or minor health problems. Along these lines, Johnfry (1987), Kirstin (2001) and Fareo (2012) separately specified four distinct roles for self-care: health maintenance and disease prevention, self-diagnosis; self-medicination and self-treatment, and patient participation in professional care (use of services). Self-care is broadly included in the concept of health behaviour; which Kasl and Cohb (1966), Phalke and Durgawale (2006) defined as activities carried out by those who consider themselves to be healthy in order to prevent disease or detect it in a symptomatic stage. Self-care is a human behaviour in which an individual uses a substance or any exogenous influences to self administers treatment for often unmanaged, undiagnosed physical or psychological ailments (Kirstin, 2001). Mechanic (1978), Phalke, Phalke and Durgawale (2006) both agreed that illness is a condition which causes or might cause an individual to concern himself with his symptoms and to seek help. It is therefore a deviation from a defined normal state or a disruption of a balanced state. Self – treatment is subsumed within the concept of illness behaviour, which includes the actions that people take to define their symptoms and seek help (Kasl and Cobb, 1966, Donatelle, 2009; and Petal, 2012). The use of drug for self-care is independent of age for both males and females. Ibrahim (1996) asserted that people hold the view that medicine should be used in the event of any sickness or discomfort. Few studies Udoh (1982), Major (2007), Oshikoya, Idowu and Olisamedia (2009), have attempted to evaluate self-care practices. The studies found out that the concept of self-care which encourages an individual to look after minor ailments with simple and effective remedies has been adopted worldwide and those that have done so reported that self-care is generally appropriate and effective. However, Litman (1971), Oparaeke and Adeogun (2014) have suggested caution and the need to strengthen health knowledge and treatment practices in lay populations. Self-care has often been attributed to two main factors. One factor is the inadequacy of health services, because of shortage of staff, equipment and materials in the established medical facilities. The other is the intrinsic value placed on self-treatment, that is, self-care is an alternative to professional services, as implied in the foregoing statement, but a distinct service which is preferred and utilized by health consumers as a first line of action because it is seen as more appropriate safe, efficacious and or economical in the management of certain diseases or condition (Mckinley, and Mckinley 1977; Levin, 1980; D’Onofrio, 1980; Levin, 1981; Makonnen, 1989; Omigbodun and Babalola, 2004; WHO, 2014). However, there is a problem associated with self-care such as under-dosing, over dosing, side effects and dependency. The problem of self-care is a world wide phenomenon that is practiced by the majority of the secondary school students in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State. Since the problem has become part of us, there is need for all hands to be on deck to tackle this problem in developing countries like Nigeria and particularly Ughelli South Local Government Area, Delta State, Nigeria. Several factors combine to worsen the situation of students practicing self-care. These problems are routed because of long waiting periods in hospitals, minor ailment, cost to save money and time, lack of accessibility, European Journal of Business and Social Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 11, February 2016. P.P. 01 09 URL: http://www.ejbss.com/recent.aspx-/ ISSN: 2235 -767X EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 3 shortage of doctors or a feeling that their ailments is beyond the knowledge of orthodox trained doctors. In Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria, it can be observed that the problem of selfcare among secondary school students hang more on the abuse of legal drugs such as pills and capsules, rather than the hard illegal drugs such as heroine, marijuana, cocaine and morphine. These factors require that the individual be considered in the context of their community and social structures and not in isolation, when planning communication or health education strategies. This study, therefore examined self-care for common illnesses among secondary school students in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria.