Study On The Current Situation And Influencing Factors Of Self-medication Of Permanent Residents In Shanghai Rural Areas

Objective：This research aims to be closely linked to the key research direction such as WHO’ patientfor patient safety and patient medication safety, and to investigate the tendency and riskstatus quo of self-medication of permanent residents in Shanghai rural areas based on theanalysis of self-medication behavior of common drugs in China, so as to provide evidenceand guidance for the health education of the medication safety of the residents of Shanghairural areas.Methods：①The qualitative research of the experience of self-medication among permanent residentsin Shanghai rural areas: using the phenomenological research methods, the purposesampling was adopted according to the diversity of gender, age, income, education level,health insurance type and the suffering of chronic diseases. The method of subject analysiswas used to analyze the interview materials with the software of QSR Nvivo7.②Thedevelopment of the self-medication behavior questionnaire: the first draft of thequestionnaire was developed according to the literature and the results of the qualitativeinterviews, and then it was formed after the experts consultation and pre-survey of30samples.③Investigation and analysis of the status quo and influencing factors ofself-medication of permanent residents in Shanghai rural areas:3of9suburbs of Shanghaiwere selected according to the economic level.656permanent residents of these suburbswere investigated. The data was analyzed using SPSS18.0to understand the currentsituation of self-medication and was explore the influencing factors.Results：①Eighteen residents in Shanghai rural areas were interviewed，and three themes werefound: the procedures of self-medication behavior, the influencing factors and the risks ofself-medication.②The self-medication behavior questionnaire included two major parts(the tendency of self-medication behavior and the risk of self-medication) and threesub-parts (access to medicine, use of medicine, and evaluation of the effect of medicine).The test-retest reliability of the behavioral tendencies part and the risk part were0.878and0.936respectively, Cronbach α were0.884and0.784.The Correlation coefficients of thesetwo parts and the entire questionnaire were between0.376~0.822, indicating the questionnaire has good reliability and validity.③Among those investigated,85.7%residents had the self-medication behavior, and the common symptoms involved includecold, cough, fever, headache, stomachache, chronic diseases,etc. The major reasons ofself-medication were self-perception of unseriousness of the disease, past experience,medical insurance, and convenience of self-medication.④The total average score oftendency of self-medication behavior and risk of self-medication were2.79±0.43and2.10±0.55respectively. The major factors of self-medication behavior tendency of permanentresidents in Shanghai rural areas were as follows: family members served as medicalworkers, the type of medical insurance, and the health status of themselves. The majorfactors of risk of self-medication include the type of medical insurance, the regularity ofdaily life, the education background and job type.Conclusion：①The reliability and validity of the self-medication behavior questionnaire is good, whichcan be used to investigate the current situation and influencing factors of self-medicationof permanent residents in Shanghai rural areas.②Self-medication is very common inShanghai rural areas. Although much self-medication rate does not necessarily lead to highrisk, we still need to pay high attention to it because of its serious damage and heavy lossesresulting from the risk.③Self-medication has its positive significance of coping theimbalance between the supply and demand of medical resources in one procedure, and inother procedure it can cause the waste of medical resources and health risk if it isinappropriately used. In this case, the self-medication should be taken under theprofessional guidance.④The efforts of public, medical institution and the government arecalled to promote the reasonable self-medication.