Channels of Medicinal Advertisements and its Association with Self-Medication Among Adults in Effia-Kwesimintsim Municipality.

Abstract

Background: Self-medication is still a major health concern among adults especially in developing countries. The media is one of the leading sources of information about medicine to the public and there is an increase in information seeking needs of the public concerning medicines. The success of an advertisement largely depends on the media or channel through which it is communicated or transmitted. Thus this study aims to determine the association between channels of medicinal advertisements and self-medication. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study. Adults aged 18years and above completed a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire included items on demographic variables, exposure to medicinal advertisements, and self-medication. The study was conducted in twelve pharmacies and six chemical shops of Anaji and Kwesimintsim in EKMA. Multi-stage cluster sampling and purposive sampling was used to select two electoral areas and simple random sampling was used in selecting 400 participants for the study. Basic descriptive statistics were performed and results were presented in frequencies and percentages using tables. The data were analyzed using STATA version 16 applying multivariate logistic regression and Pearson`s Chi-square/Fisher`s exact test. THE RESULTS: The prevalence rate of self-medication was (62.3%). The mean age is 36.9 ±14.8 years. 35.8%of the respondents were aged between 18-28years. Most of the respondents have tertiary education 38%, and 58.0% were employed. Exposure to advertisements was significantly associated with self-medication (p=0.003). The likelihood of a person not exposed to medicinal advertisement practicing self-medication is less (AOR= 0.37, CI=0.18-0.74) compared with those exposed to medicinal advertisements. The most common class of medicine mostly purchased was analgesics (58.6%) and television (73.9%) was the channel most accessed by adults in EKMA. 72.2% of the respondents obtained their medicine for self-medication from pharmacies and chemical shops. Television (p=0.001), billboard (p=0.002), in a car (p=0.002), and social media platforms (p=0.000) were the channels that were significantly associated with self-medication. The likelihood of a person not exposed to medicinal advertisement on television, billboard, in a car and social media, not practicing self-medication were less (AOR=0.39, CI=0.21-0.72; AOR= 0.42,CI= 0.17-1.06; AOR= 0.37,CI= 0.17- 0.79; AOR=0.24,CI=0.11-0.54) respectively compared to an individual exposed to medicinal advertisement on these channels. Conclusion: The study confirmed an association between medicinal advertisements and self-medication thereby designating it to be an important predictor of self-medication among adults in EKMA. The findings from this study indicate that the channels of medicinal advertisements such as television, in the vehicle, social media, and billboards are significantly associated with self-medication. Medicinal advertisements on these channels or media play a vital role in impacting an individual’s decision on the purchase and use of medicinal products. These channels can thus be employed to educate the public on safe medication practices such as the harmful effects of self-medicating and the need to consult a pharmacist or physician concerning all medications. There is a need for the implementation of the policy to monitor, control, and regulate the sale of non-prescribed medicines by the Pharmacy Council. The regulator of medicinal advertisements, FDA should have limitations on the advertisements of these medicines in terms of the frequency of these advertisements on the various channels of advertisements.