Factors affecting Self-Medication among Elderly in Taiwan
Date Issued
2005
Date
2005
Author(s)
Tai, Ya-Feng
DOI
zh-TW
Abstract
Senior citizens taking non-prescription medicine is a common problem in nursing care. Physiological changes that accompany aging usually associated with chronic diseases. Apart from taking prescription medicine dispensed by physicians, senior citizens faced with ailments or disorders are also likely to resort to nonprescription medicine to treat illnesses or alleviate symptoms. Nonetheless, these senior citizens seldom discuss with physicians whether or how they take non-prescription medicines or Chinese herbs, and this may lead to the danger of drug interactions. Due to the time limit during clinic visits, medical staff is often unable to assess in detail the effects experienced by senior citizens that take non-prescription medicines. For the above reason, this study aims to find out the correlations between senior citizens taking non-prescription western medicines and Chinese herbs and factors such as demographic variants, depression , state of health, medical service utilization, social interaction, and media commercials, so as to investigate the current situation of senior citizens using western medicines and Chinese herbs.
This cross-sectional study adopted a purposive sampling method. After interviewing a total of 250 elders 65 persons old or above who met the sampling criteria at both a senior activity center and outpatient department of a medical center in Taipei City, this study obtained the following findings:
1. Among the 250 senior citizens in this study, 147 took nonprescription western medicines (58.8%), 82 took nonprescription Chinese herbs (32.8%), and 49 took both nonprescription western medicines and Chinese herbs at the same time (19.6%).
2. Among the senior citizens that took non-prescription western medicine, 78.2% of them visited western physicians on a regular basis, while 6.1% visited Chinese medicine physicians on a regular basis. Most of these senior citizens stated that they followed the instructions for taking non-prescription medicine, and that the reasons of taking medicine were to stay healthy and treat illnesses. Most of the medicines they took were purchased either by themselves or by their children, and were purchased abroad.
3. Among the senior citizens that took non-prescription Chinese herbs, 74.4% of them visited western physicians on a regular basis, while 4.9% visited Chinese medicine physicians on a regular basis. The main purpose of taking nonprescription medicine was to stay healthy (60.9%), higher than the purpose of illness treatment (20.7%). The main source of medicine is self-purchase (67%), a higher percentage than that purchased by the senior citizens’ children (20.7%). In addition, most of the Chinese herbs the senior citizens purchased were from Chinese medicine pharmacies.
4. The results of the regression model of senior citizens that took non-prescription western medicines were as follows. Women were more likely to take nonprescription medicines than men, with a probability 2.41 times of the latter (95% CI=1.37-4.20). Senior citizens between 65-74 years old were more likely to take nonprescription western medicines than senior citizens more than 75 years old, with a probability 2.37 times higher than the latter (95% CI=1.36-4.12). Senior citizens who visited western physicians at least once were more likely to take nonprescription than senior citizens who visited physicians on only 0-1 occasion, with a probability 2.3 times higher than the latter (95% CI=1.23-4.30). Senior citizens who participated in social interaction and receive media commercial information were more likely to take nonprescription medicine than those who did not, and the probability was 1.83 times higher (95% CI=1.05-3.19).
5. The result of the regression model of senior citizens who took nonprescription Chinese herbs were as follows. Senior citizens with a monthly income of NT$15,000 or above at their disposable took 1.68 times more Chinese herbs than those with a monthly disposable income of less than NT$15,000 (95% CI=0.97-2.9). Other factors, including demographic variants, depression, health state, medical service utilization, social interaction, and media commercials all failed to predict the taking of Chinese herbs.
Results revealed in this study help nursing staff evaluate and further understand senior citizens’ behavior in regards to taking non-prescription medicine, and thereby assists them to discover high risk groups for taking non-prescription medicine at the earliest time possible, and provides them with detailed assessments and timely suggestions to fully achieve the specific goals of nursing care and to improve senior citizens’ quality of life.
Subjects
社區老人
自服西藥
自服中草藥
影響因素
senior citizens
take non-prescription western medicine
take nonprescription Chinese herbs
risk factors
Type
other
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