Self-Medication with Antibiotics for Protection against COVID-19: The Role of Psychological Distress, Knowledge of, and Experiences with Antibiotics

Self-Medication with Antibiotics for Protection against COVID-19: The Role of Psychological Distress, Knowledge of, and Experiences with Antibiotics

Self-medication with antibiotics is a major contributing factor to antimicrobial resistance. Prior research examining factors associated with antibiotic self-medication has focused on an individual's knowledge about antibiotics, antibiotic usage practices, accessibility to antibiotic medication...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antibiotics (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 3; p. 232
Main Authors: Zhang, Airong, Hobman, Elizabeth V, De Barro, Paul, Young, Asaesja, Carter, David J, Byrne, Mitchell
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 25-02-2021
MDPI
Subjects:
antibiotic use for prevention
Antibiotics
Antimicrobial agents
Antimicrobial resistance
coronavirus pandemic
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Demographics
Disease transmission
Drug resistance
Drug self-administration
Drugs
Education
Gender
Health risks
Knowledge
knowledge of antibiotics
Mental health
Pandemics
perceived health risk
psychological distress
Psychological stress
Regression analysis
Resistance factors
Self-medication
Variables
Australia
coronavirus pandemic
antibiotic use for prevention
antimicrobial resistance
psychological distress
perceived health risk
knowledge of antibiotics
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Self-medication with antibiotics is a major contributing factor to antimicrobial resistance. Prior research examining factors associated with antibiotic self-medication has focused on an individual's knowledge about antibiotics, antibiotic usage practices, accessibility to antibiotic medication, and demographic characteristics. The role of psychological distress associated with perceived health risks in explaining antibiotic self-medication is less understood. This study was designed to address this knowledge gap in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. An online survey of 2217 participants was conducted at the height of the initial outbreak and revealed that 19.5% of participants took antibiotics to protect themselves from COVID-19. Multivariate logistic analysis examined the predictors of taking antibiotics for protection against COVID-19. An integrative framework developed from the results illustrates potential pathways and facilitating factors that may contribute to prophylactic self-medication with antibiotics. Specifically, COVID-19 pandemic-induced psychological distress was significantly positively related to self-medication. Preventive use of antibiotics was also facilitated by a lack of understanding about antibiotics, inappropriate antibiotics usage practices, the nature of the patient-doctor relationship, and demographic characteristics. The findings highlight that to combat antimicrobial resistance due to self-medication, interventions need to focus on interrupting entrenched behavioural responses and addressing emotional responses to perceived health risks.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:2079-6382
2079-6382
DOI:10.3390/antibiotics10030232