Knowledge, attitude, and self-medication practices among healthcare students from the metropolitan City of South India

Self-medication is common in many developing and developed countries. The young population and students are highly influenced and opt for self-medication. Healthcare students often practice self-medication despite their knowledge of both the positive and negative consequences. Thus, the goals of the present study included estimating the difference in knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding self-medication between healthcare students and identifying the influence of demographic characteristics on the knowledge, attitude, and practice among healthcare students. A cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate healthcare students at a private university in South India. The non-probabilistic convenience sampling technique was employed in this study. The pre-validated questionnaire was used to collect data. Binary logistic regression and chi-square tests were used to analyze the data. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. A total of 466 healthcare students participated in the current survey, 234 of whom were males. The most current study participants were pharmacy students (44.8%), followed by nursing students (21.5%). More than 85.6% and 84.8% of the study participants had adequate knowledge and a positive attitude regarding self-medication usage. However, good practice was low (15.9%). The male participants tend to have a more positive attitude than females (p < 0.001). The nursing students had a higher positive attitude towards self-medication (p = 0.002). The practice of self-medication differs significantly among medicine and allied health students compared to pharmacy students (p = 0.002 and p = 0.006). Most students obtained information about self-medication from community pharmacists (41.2%), followed by social media networks or the internet (24.5%). Most of the current participants agree that self-medication is not safe in all age groups. The results highlight the urgent need for structured educational interventions and public health awareness to promote responsible self-medication, including better curriculum content, interprofessional collaborative education, and restricted access to health information.