ABSTRACT
Self-medication is fast gaining grounds as an important component of health care and educational system both in developing and developed nations. More so, unlike other aspects of self-care, it involves the use of drugs, which is capable of doing good as well as afflicts harm. Numerous subjects reveal that there are risks, such as drug resistance, misdiagnosis, below or over dose of drugs, use of expired drugs, drug interactions, prolonged duration of use, poly-pharmacy risk associated with improper use of non-prescribed medicine.
Generally, youths/students are seen to be the greatest and worst offenders in the issue of self-medication as they resort to use of drugs in order to cope with academic challenges and stress. The University of Lagos students are not left out in this issue of problem of self-medication, drug abuse and misuse.
Some of the problems associated with self-medication such as masked diagnoses, use of excessive drug dosage, prolonged duration of use, drug interactions, polypharmacy and superinfection can occur in self-medicating individuals .However, there is substantial variation in the prevalence rates of selfmedication among developing and developed nations due to inherent differences in cultural and socioeconomic factors, disparities in health care systems such as reimbursement policies, access to health care, and drug dispensing policies [17]. Analysis of the causes and effects of self medication amongst youths in Nigeria has not been widely studied. The factors that influence selfmedication practices remain issues of intense debate in academic discourse. Practices in self-medication have raised a lot of unresolved research questions such as: Which ailments do Nigerian youths treat through self-medication? What are the types and sources of these non-prescribed medicines? Is there any relationship between level of education and self-medication practice? What factors influence selfmedication practices among university students? What strategies can be crafted to discourage self-medication practices in general?
The study will assess analysis of the causes and effects of self-medication amongst youths in Nigeria (A case study of select undergraduates of the University of Lagos), as well as the factors associated with self-medication.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE. 2
INTRODUCTION.. 2
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY. 2
1.2 Statement of the problem.. 3
1.3 The objective of the study. 4
1.4 Research Questions. 5
1.5 Research Hypothesis. 5
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY. 5
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY. 6
1.8 Limitation of the Study. 6
REFERENCES. 7
CHAPTER TWO.. 10
LITERATURE REVIEW... 10
2.1 INTRODUCTION.. 10
2.2 Conceptual Framework. 11
2.2.1 Sources of Knowledge on the use of Medications/Drugs. 11
2.2.2 Concept of Medication/Drugs and Self-Medication. 11
2.2.3 Predisposing Factors to Self-Medication. 12
2.2.4 Consequences/Dangers of Self-Medication. 12
2.3 Theoretical Framework. 13
CHAPTER THREE. 16
Methodology. 16
3.1 Research Design. 16
3.2 The Study Area. 16
3.3 Population of the Study. 16
3.4 Sample Size and Sampling Techniques. 16
3.5 Sources of Data Collection. 17
3.6 Instrument for Data Collection. 17
3.7 Validity of Research Instrument 17
3.8 Reliability of the Instrument 18
3.9 Administration of the Instrument 18
3.10 Methods of Data Analysis. 18
References. 18
CHAPTER FOUR. 19
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION.. 19
Preamble. 19
4.2 Demographic Characteristics of Respondents. 19
4.3 Analysis of the Respondents’ Views on Research Question one: 20
4.4 Testing Hypotheses. 23
4.5 Discussion of Findings. 24
CHAPTER FIVE. 25
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 25
5.1 Preamble. 25
Summary. 25
Conclusion. 25
5.4 Recommendations. 26
References. 27
Appendix. 32
