Health Seeking Behavior Towards Minor Ailments Among University Students in Malaysia

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.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice of Self-Medication among Medical Students at Sudan International University, Sudan

“…Concerning the source of information obtained for self-medication, our study found that pharmacists 122 (42.4%) were first source of consultations, followed by parents information 102 (35.4%). In contrast to a study done in Malaysian public university, which declare that the main source of information, was existed from parents of the students in about (63.7%), followed by doctors consultations in (59.9%), internet in (57.9%), pharmacists in (33.9%) and finally from friends (33.5%) (18). In the current study findings, the common illnesses described by students for seeking selfmedication were arranged as follows; headache (93.2%), then common cold and cough (75.6%) and lastly fever (74.2%).…”