Self-Medication in Rural Northeastern Romania: Patients’ Attitudes and Habits

Razvan-Nicolae Rusu (), Daniela-Carmen Ababei, Walther Bild, Ioana Stoian, Ioana Macadan, Gabriela Dumitrita Stanciu, Andrei Ciobica and Veronica Bild
Additional contact information
Razvan-Nicolae Rusu: Department of Pharmacodynamics and Clinical Pharmacy, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 16 Universitatii Street, 700115 Iasi, Romania
Daniela-Carmen Ababei: Department of Pharmacodynamics and Clinical Pharmacy, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 16 Universitatii Street, 700115 Iasi, Romania
Walther Bild: Department of Physiology, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700115 Iasi, Romania
Ioana Stoian: Department of Pharmacodynamics and Clinical Pharmacy, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 16 Universitatii Street, 700115 Iasi, Romania
Ioana Macadan: Department of Pharmacodynamics and Clinical Pharmacy, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 16 Universitatii Street, 700115 Iasi, Romania
Gabriela Dumitrita Stanciu: Advanced Research and Development Center for Experimental Medicine (CEMEX), “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 16 Universitatii Street, 700115 Iasi, Romania
Andrei Ciobica: Department of Physiology, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700115 Iasi, Romania
Veronica Bild: Department of Pharmacodynamics and Clinical Pharmacy, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 16 Universitatii Street, 700115 Iasi, Romania

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 22, 1-18

Abstract: In recent years, many healthcare systems, along with healthcare professionals, have provided services in a patient-centered manner, in which patients are key actors in the care process. Encouraging self-care creates responsible patients, but it must be practiced responsibly. This study aims to analyze the tendency towards self-medication for patients from a rural area in Northeastern Romania. Data were collected using a questionnaire, which consisted of 25 questions, that has been developed by the research team. Student’s T test or one-way ANOVA was used, and the reliability of the questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Fifty-eight patients agreed to participate and were interviewed. The results of the study suggest that respondents practice self-medication, which they resort to when their condition cannot be treated with natural remedies or herbs and when it impairs their ability to do their daily activities. Self-medication could be explained by the lack of self-care services as well as the trust patients have in the specific treatment. Patients prefer asking the pharmacist for drugs instead of visiting a physician, which could be due to higher accessibility and time-efficiency, while also being prone to stock up on certain medications due to limited access to healthcare.

Keywords: self-medication; drugs; healthcare; rural; pharmacist; antibiotics; prescription; questionnaire (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/14949/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/14949/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:22:p:14949-:d:971676

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().