Abstract
This study describes perception and knowledge of medicines and the degree of familiarity with them in a group of primary schoolchildren. Participants were 360 primary school children from three age groups (6–7, 8–9, 10–11 years) recruited from one private and two public schools in the area of Athens. The children were interviewed individually at school. Results indicate that most of the children believe strongly in the therapeutic power of medicines independent of age or socioeconomic status (SES). Only 31.9% could describe correctly the role of vaccines. Also the children of higher SES were more knowledgeable compared to those of lower SES. Children draw their information on medicines from the parents or the physician; however the children of lower SES used other sources, such as reading, more frequently. Of the sample, 50% stated having easy access to home medicines and the percentages were high even for the youngest. Conclusion:Children’s strong belief in the curative power of medicines, their limited knowledge on prevention and the easy accessibility to household medicines raises serious concerns. Additionally socio-economic differences in knowledge of medicines underscore the need for planning community and school-based health education programmes, with special attention to medicine education.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- SES :
-
socioeconomic status
References
Almarsdottir AB, Zimmer C (1998) Children’s knowledge about medicines. Childhood 5: 265–281
Almarsdottir AB, Aramburuzabala P, Garcia M, Sanz EJ (1996) Children’s perceived benefit of medicines in Chapel Hill, Madrid, and Tenerife. In: Bush PJ, Trakas DJ, Sanz EJ, Wirsing RL, Vaskilampi T, Prout A (eds) Children, medicines, and culture. Haworth, New York, pp 127–153
Almarsdottir AB, Hartzema AG, Bush PJ, Simpson KN, Zimmer C (1997) Children’s attitudes and beliefs about illness and medicines: triangulation of open-ended and semi-structured interviews. J Soc Adm Pharm 14: 26–34
Aramburuzabala P, Garcia M, Almarsdottir AB, Sanz E, Polaino-Lorente A (1996) Decision makers in the treatment of childhood illness in Madrid, Tenerife and Chapel Hill. In: Bush PJ, Trakas DJ, Sanz EJ, Wirsing RL, Vaskilampi T, Prout A. (eds) Children, medicines, and culture. Haworth, New York, pp 155–171
Bush PJ, Iannotti RJ (1990) A children’s health belief model. Med Care 28: 69–86
Bush PJ, Trakas DJ, Sanz EJ, Wirsing RL, Vaskilampi T, Prout A (1996) Children, medicines, and culture. Haworth, New York
Chambers CT, Reid GJ, McGrath PJ, Finley GA (1997) Self-administration of over-the-counter medication for pain among adolescents. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 151: 449–455
De Vries T (1992) De dokter in de kinderboeken. Welk beeld van de dokter doen kinderen op uit hun literatuur? Medisch Contact 42: 1226–1229
Eggen AE (1994) Pattern of drug use in a general population-prevalence and predicting factors: The Tromso Study. Int J Epidemiol 23: 1262–1272
Henricson K, Stenberg P, Rametsteiner G, Ranstam J, Hanson BS, Melander A (1998) Socio-economic factors, morbidity and drug utilization: an ecological study. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 7: 261–267
Holstein BE, Holme Hansen E, Due P, Almarsdottir AB (2003) Self-reported medicine use among 11-to 15-year-old girls and boys in Denmark 1988–1998. Scand J Public Health 31: 334–341
Iannotti RJ, Bush PJ (1992) The development of autonomy in children’s health behaviors. In: Sussman EJ, Feagans W, Ray W (eds) Emotion, cognition, health and development in children and adolescents. Erlbaum, New Jersey, pp 53–74
Inhelder B, Piaget J (1958) The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence. Basic Books, New York
Marmot M (1996) The social pattern of health and disease. In: Blane D, Brunner E, Wilkinson R (eds) Health and social organization. Routledge, London, pp 42–70
Menacker F, Aramburuzabala P, Minian N (1999) Children and medicines: what they want to know and how they want to learn. J Soc Adm Pharm 16: 38–52
Metge C, Black C, Peterson S, Kozyrskyj AL (1999) The population’s use of pharmaceuticals. Med Care 37: JS42–JS59
Nadel V (1993) Emergency departments: unevenly affected by growth and change in patient use. Washington DC, US General Accounting Office, Human Resources Division
Navarro-Rubio MD, Jovell AJ, Schor EL (1995) Socioeconomic status and preventive health care use by children in Spain. Am J Prev Med 11: 256–262
Nielsen MW, Hansen EH, Rasmussen NK (2003) Prescription and non-prescription medicine use in Denmark: association with socio-economic position. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 59:677–684
Pappas G, Queen S, Hadden W, Fisher G (1993) The increasing disparity in mortality between socioeconomic groups in the United States: 1960 and 1986. N Engl J Med 329: 103–109
Perlman N, Abramovitch R (1987) Visit to the pediatrician: children’s concerns. J Pediatr 110: 988–990
Philalithis A, Vlachonikolis IG, Koukouli-Gravani S (1990) The health survey in Archanes: indicators of health services use. MMG 18: 439–448 (in Greek)
Rudolf MC, Alario AJ, Youth B, Riggs S (1993) Self-medication in childhood: observations at a residential summer camp. Pediatrics 91: 1182–1184
Rushforth H (1999) Practitioner review: communicating with hospitalized children. Review and application of research pertaining to children’s understanding of health and illness. J Child Psychol Psychiatr Allied Disciplines 40: 683–691
Siegal M (1988) Children’s knowledge of contagion and contamination as causes of illness. Child Dev 59: 1353–1359
Siegrist J (1989) Steps toward explaining social differentials in morbidity: the case of West Germany. In: Fox J (eds) Health inequalities in European countries. Gower, UK, pp 353–371
Sloand ED, Vessey JA (2001) Self-medication with common household medicines by young adolescents. Issues Compr Pediatr Nurs 24: 57–67
Stoelben S, Krappweis J, Rossler G, Kirch W (2000) Adolescents’ drug use and drug knowledge. Eur J Pediatr 159: 608–614
Townsend P, Davidson N, Whitehead M (1990) Inequalities in health. Penguin Books, London
Trakas DJ (1990) Greek children’s perception of illness and drugs. Pharm Weekbl (Sci) 12: 247–251
Wilkinson SR (1988) The child’s world of illness. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Acknowledgement
We thank Achilleas Gravanis, Professor of Pharmacology, Medical School, University of Crete, for his constructive comments and suggestions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bozoni, K., Kalmanti, M. & Koukouli, S. Perception and knowledge of medicines of primary schoolchildren: the influence of age and socioeconomic status. Eur J Pediatr 165, 42–49 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-005-1760-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-005-1760-6