Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Over-the-counter Drugs Administration by Parents to Children in a Selected Community Area with a View to Develop an Information Module

Ab s t r Ac t Introduction: The trend of providing drugs by parents to children on their own, that is, self-medication has been increasing in the developing countries as well as in the developed countries in the recent years. This practice is more disastrous in children where dosages vary with weight or body surface. There are many reasons offered by parents for self-medicating their children. This study was undertaken to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of over-the-counter drugs administration by parents to children and to determine the correlation between the variables. Materials and methods: A descriptive cross-sectional community-based study was carried out among 50 mothers having children in the age-group between 2 and 12 years. A structured questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge, a five-point Likert scale to assess the attitude, and a three-point Likert scale to assess their practice. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The study findings revealed that the common illness the mothers used to treat was fever (48%) and the common drug that was used was antipyretics (56%). The first reason mentioned by the mother for self-medication was clinic too far away 22 (44%) and, secondly, due to heavy consultation fees 16 (32%). Most of the mothers had moderately adequate knowledge and 42 (84%) of the parents had irrational selfmedication practice. A positive correlation was found between knowledge and attitude at p <0.01. Conclusion: Findings indicate a need to have routine continuous health education at the community level about the use of self-medications.