Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Antibiotics Use and an Examination on Patient’s Unrealistic Health Symptoms in Turkey
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Robab Ahmadian 1 * , Yesim Uncu 2 , Ilker Ercan 1 , Ozlem Toluk 1
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1 Department of Biostatistics, Bursa Uludag University, Nilufer, Bursa, TURKEY2 Department of Family Medicine, Bursa Uludag University, Nilufer, Bursa, TURKEY* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to assess the attitudes and knowledge of adult individuals about antibiotics. Since in Turkey, antibiotics are not sold without a prescription, it was also investigated whether Turkish people compelled physicians to prescribe antibiotics by showing unrealistic symptoms.
Methods: A self-administered cross-sectional survey involving 1,057 respondents was conducted using a validated questionnaire. The questionnaire was prepared in four sections. The first section included attitude assessment and a five-point Likert scale has collected information. In the second section, knowledge questions examined participants’ knowledge about antibiotics with Three-point Likert scale. The third section contained a sensitive question, and using the crosswise model was indirectly asked whether the participant has forced the physician to prescribe an antibiotic. The reliability test results for the attitude scale showed the α-value of Cronbach was 0.767, and KR-21 reliability for the knowledge scale was 0.713. Test-retest reliability coefficients for attitude scale was r=0.697, the coefficients for knowledge scale was r=0.887.
Results: Turkish people’s awareness about antibiotics is insufficient but at an acceptable level. The public is aware that antibiotics rapidly develop resistance when used widely and incorrectly. Nevertheless, %17 of them resort to showing unrealistic symptoms to force the physician to prescribe antibiotics.
Conclusion: To conclude, Turkish people’s knowledge and attitudes about antibiotics are insufficient but acceptable. However, a noticeable rate of patients resorts to showing unrealistic symptoms to force the physician to prescribe antibiotics.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Original Article

ELECTRON J GEN MED, Volume 19, Issue 2, April 2022, Article No: em352

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejgm/11563

Publication date: 14 Jan 2022

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Article Downloads: 1448

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