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Relationship between adolescents’ and their parents’ attitudes toward medicines and awareness of the risk of medicines

  • Research Article
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Abstract

Background When they reach adolescence, children begin to independently use medicine without their parents’ supervision, but parents usually still want to be involved in their drug therapy. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate how parental attitudes and awareness toward medicine relate to adolescents’ attitudes and awareness. Setting Twelve secondary schools in different regions of the Slovak Republic. Method Adolescents and parents responded to a questionnaire, and the answers were paired and analysed. Parental and adolescents’ attitudes toward medicines and awareness of the risk of medicines were measured using a five-point Likert scale. Main outcome measure The strength of the relationship between parents’ and their adolescent children’s level of agreement with statements about medicines. Results There were significant differences between parents᾽ and adolescents’ mean Likert scores for statements about their attitudes toward medicines and their awareness of the risk of medicines (p < 0.05). Parents and adolescents were not fully aware of the risks of cough medicine (73.5% and 76.1%), antihistamines (32.7% and 52.1%), painkillers (33.6% and 47%) and combining medicines (25.2% and 40.4%). More than half of the parents and adolescents had a positive perception of the effectiveness of medication and believed that taking medicine would not hurt adolescents. Parents’ and adolescents’ responses to the statements were directly proportional (r = 0.94, p < 0.001). Conclusion The analysis revealed a relationship between Slovakian adolescents’ and their parents’ attitudes and awareness toward medicine; it highlighted areas of adolescents’ and parents’ education about the proper use of medications.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Slovak Chamber of Pharmacists and experts from Slovak State Institute for drug control in Bratislava for cooperation and support.

Funding

This work was supported by the Grant from Faculty of Pharmacy, Comenius University in Bratislava [FAF UK/5/2017]; and the Slovak Chamber of Pharmacist Grants [01/2016, 01/2017].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Comenius University in Bratislava, Kalinciakova 8, 832 32, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

    Zuzana Klimaszova & Magdalena Kuzelova

  2. Department of Physical Chemistry of Drugs, Faculty of Pharmacy, Comenius University in Bratislava, Odbojarov 10, 832 32, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

    Tomas Fazekas

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  1. Zuzana Klimaszova
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  2. Tomas Fazekas
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  3. Magdalena Kuzelova
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Correspondence to Zuzana Klimaszova.

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Klimaszova, Z., Fazekas, T. & Kuzelova, M. Relationship between adolescents’ and their parents’ attitudes toward medicines and awareness of the risk of medicines. Int J Clin Pharm 40, 1501–1510 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-018-0723-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-018-0723-8

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