self-medication with over-the-counter and prescription drugs and illness behavior in nigerian artisans

Background: self-medication (sm), the use of drugs by individuals to treat self-recognized illnesses orsymptomsis one of the major health problems. objectives: the study assessed the patterns and links between sm and illness behavior in nigerian artisans. patientsandmethods: in this cross-sectional survey, a multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 186 participants (age range = 15 - 61 years; mean = 31.5) in the ede community of osun state, southwestern nigeria. the artisans (beauticians, autoworkers, and house building construction workers) responded to the self-medication test (smt) and illness behavior questionnaire (ibq). frequency counts were employed to analyze the participants’ demographic characteristics, while linear regression analysis was used to answer the research question. results: the findings from this study revealed a 47.8% prevalence of sm, ranging from 14.2% of antibiotics sm to 51.1% of alternative medicine sm. sm was observed to independently and significantly predict disease conviction (r^2 = 0.030, p = 0.018), psychological/ somatic perception (r^2 = 0.034, p = 0.012), general illness reaction (r^2 = 0.064, p = 0.000), and general illness behavior (r^2 = 0.028, p = 0.023) of the participants. conclusions: our findings revealed the need for an increase in public enlightenment, awareness, and sensitization among artisans on ills of sm. also, we recommend psycho-education among this vulnerable group.