Health seeking behavior towards minor ailments among universitystudents in Malaysia
- Vol.13(1)
- M P Innovare Academic Sciences Pvt Ltd 2021
- 39-43p.
Objective: Thisstudy wasconducted to identify the types of minor ailmentsencountered by university students in Malaysia and the action taken in response to these ailments.Methods: A cross-sectional study wasconducted on undergraduate students from the various faculties in amajorprivate and a public university in Malaysia. A researcher stationed at different areas of the universitiestorecruit respondents. If the student agreed to participate, he/she would sign a consent form and then self-filleda structured questionnaire. Results: Of the 856 respondents included in this study, 68.6% were femaleand 60.6% rated their health status as ‘good’ or ‘very good’. During the onemonth period prior to the study, 87.4% of the respondents encountered at least one minor ailment. The five most common minor ailments encountered were headache(58.1%), common cold(42.8%), sorethroat(42.6%),cough(40.3%)and back pain(27.6%). The main actions takenwere rest at homeandself-medication. The most common drug used for the treatment of minor ailments was paracetamol(49% of the respondents).Other drugs were used by less than 10% of the respondents. The main source of information was from parents (63.7%), followed by doctors (59.9%), internet (57.9%), pharmacists (33.9%) and friends (33.5%).Conclusion: Headache is more common among university students compared to the general population. Further studiesare requiredto understand the cause of headache among this population.