KNOWLEDGE, PRACTICES, AND ATTITUDES OF SELFMEDICATION AMONG HEALTH CARE STUDENTS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY IN VIETNAM

Abstract

The primary purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine the knowledge,
practices, and attitudes of health care students towards self-medication. Specific insights were
gained from the context of Vietnam. Indeed, the results revealed an increasing trend in selfmedication among health care students in Vietnam. Notably, the factor of gender did not play a
statistically significant role in shaping these trends, but major parameters, such as the age of the
participants, year of study, and socioeconomic status, were found to play a moderating role in
predicting the likelihood of health care students engaging in self-medication. Regarding the aspect
of the socioeconomic status, most of the students were employed, but the perceived high cost of
health care was observed to cause the majority of them to resort to self-medication as a cost- and
time-saving measure. With self-medication perceived by most of the health care students to promote
self-care, the study established that the practice is a worrying trend in Vietnam. In future, there is a
need for health care organisations and practitioners to engage in awareness programs that might
enable citizens to understand some of the adverse effects that are likely to arise from the improper
use of medications. Some of the topics that are worth addressing or presenting include increased
side effects due to self-medication, the danger of toxicity, and the risk of drug resistance. Regarding
future research, a major issue requiring further investigation involves the efficacy of specific
interventions seeking to minimise the practice of self-medication among youths in Vietnam.