1. HEALTH SEEKING BEHAVIOR TOWARDS MINOR AILMENTS AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN MALAYSIA
- Author
-
Siew Siang Chua and Li-Ying Tan
- Subjects
Pharmacology ,education.field_of_study ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Health seeking ,business.industry ,education ,Population ,Pharmaceutical Science ,Common cold ,Minor (academic) ,medicine.disease ,Family medicine ,Sore throat ,medicine ,Public university ,Back pain ,medicine.symptom ,business ,human activities ,Self-medication - Abstract
Objective: This study was conducted to identify the types of minor ailments encountered by university students in Malaysia and the action taken in response to these ailments. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on undergraduate students from the various faculties in a major private and a public university in Malaysia. A researcher stationed at different areas of the universities to recruit respondents. If the student agreed to participate, he/she would sign a consent form and then self-filled a structured questionnaire. Results: Of the 856 respondents included in this study, 68.6% were female and 60.6% rated their health status as ‘good’ or ‘very good’. During the one month period prior to the study, 87.4% of the respondents encountered at least one minor ailment. The five most common minor ailments encountered were headache (58.1%), common cold (42.8%), sore throat (42.6%), cough (40.3%) and back pain (27.6%). The main actions taken were rest at home and self-medication. The most common drug used for the treatment of minor ailments was paracetamol (49% of the respondents). Other drugs were used by less than 10% of the respondents. The main source of information was from parents (63.7%), followed by doctors (59.9%), internet (57.9%), pharmacists (33.9%) and friends (33.5%). Conclusion: Headache is more common among university students compared to the general population. Further studies are required to understand the cause of headache among this population.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF