The Reasons for Self-Medication from the Perspective of Iranian Nursing Students: A Qualitative Study

Background. The prevalence of self-medication has increased dramatically worldwide. This study was conducted to determine the reasons for self-medication from the perspective of Iranian nursing students. Methods. This qualitative study was conducted using the content analysis method. Fifteen nursing students were selected by the purposeful sampling method. Data were collected by in-depth semistructured interviews. Qualitative content analysis method was used for data analysis. The MAXQDA software was used for data management. Results. Data saturation was achieved with fifteen interviews with nine women and six men, with a mean age of 26.5 ± 4.8 years. The reasons for self-medication were explained in five categories and fifteen subcategories. Some of the reasons for self-medication were having medication information, having previous experience, easy access to medicine, lack of enough time, access to medical staff, cost of a doctor’s visit, inadequate respect for patient privacy, pharmaceutical advertising in the media, and information explosion. Discussion. Several factors are involved in self-medication. Given the dangers of self-medication, health policymakers must adopt strict policies for pharmacies that sell drugs without a prescription. Furthermore, it is helpful to run training courses on self-medication risks for students.