KNOWLEDGE OF DANGERS OF SELF-MEDICATION AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN OBOWO LGA OF IMO STATE

Abstract

This study examined the knowledge of dangers of self-medication among secondary school students in Obowo LGA of Imo state. Four objectives with corresponding research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. Descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population comprised 4,542 secondary school students in Obowo L.G.A from which a sample of 400 students were drawn using a multi-stage sampling procedure. Questionnaire was the instrument for data collection. The descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentages were used to answer the research questions while chi-square X2 tested at 0.05level of significance and at appropriate degrees of freedom was used to test the hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that majority of the respondents had the knowledge of self-medication and dangers of self-medication. Female students had slightly higher knowledge of self-medication and dangers of self-medication. The study further revealed that there was no significant difference in the knowledge of self-medication and dangers of self-medication among student according to gender. Hence, it was recommended among others that health agencies, health educators and government should raise awareness through all electronic and print media on the dangers of self-medication.