A study of attitude toward medication and medical help-seeking among medical and pharmacy students
Dushad Ram, Najla Eiman
Abstract
Background: Attitude toward medication and medical help-seeking varies among students and has a bearing on keeping optimum health. There is a paucity of studies examining these variables among medical and pharmacy students. Aims: To know the attitude toward medication and medical help-seeking and its relationship in medical and pharmacy students. Materials and methods: Three hundred and six students (Pharmacy = 162, Medical = 144) were assessed with socio-demographic and clinical proforma, Hogan Drug Attitude Inventory (DAI), and the action/intention sub-scale of attitudes toward medical help-seeking scale (ATMHSS). Results: Mean score on DAI score and ATMHSS were 14.02 and 26.29, respectively. Pharmacy group had statistically significant lower score (MU = 1.012, Z = −2.012, p = 0.044) on DAI. There was a statistically significant group difference between poor and partial drug attitude (MU = 6570.500, Z = −2.425, p = 0.015), and poor and good drug attitude (MU = 1532.000, Z = −2.686, p = 0.007) on the score of ATMHSS. Conclusion: Pharmacy students tend to have negative attitude toward medication use as compared to medical students. There is negative association between poor attitude toward medication and medical help-seeking.