International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | February 2018 | Vol 5 | Issue 2 Page 811 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Jain S et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2018 Feb;5(2):811-817 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Original Research Article Prevalence of self-medication practices among the residents of urban slums located near govt. medical college, Jabalpur Shubham Jain 1 , Aditya Thakur 2 *, Kunal Peepre 2 , Shivika Kaushal 1 , Pradeep Kasar 2 INTRODUCTION Self-medication is defined as medication taken on the patient’s own initiative or on the advice of pharmacist or any other lay person. The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined self-medication as the practice whereby individuals treat their ailments and conditions with medicines that are approved and available without prescription, and which are safe and effective when used as directed. 1 But self-medication can be described as a double edged sword for its users, because it has both beneficial and harmful effects. 2 Antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world. New resistance mechanisms are emerging and spreading ABSTRACT Background: Self-medication is defined as medication taken on the patient’s own initiative or on the advice of pharmacist or any other lay person. Self-medication can be described as a double edged sword for its users, because it has both beneficial and harmful effects. According to recent community based study in 2016 prevalence of self- medication in developing countries varies from 12% to as high as 73% in different communities. The objectives of the study were to assess the prevalence of self-medication among the residents of urban slums located near Govt. medical college, Jabalpur and to identify the factors associated with the practice of self-medication. Methods: It was a descriptive cross sectional study conducted in 412 families residing in slum areas around the medical college for duration of 2 months [1st July to 31st august 2017]. One participant from each family was interviewed. Data on socio demographic details (age, gender, education, occupation, and income), practice of self- medication, and reasons for use of self-medication were collected. Results: Among the total 412 participants, 176 (42.7%) practiced self-medication out of which 43.6% were Females. Highest prevalence of 58.1% amongst 18-40 years of age group, 69.3% was literates. Major reason for self- medication being disease is simple (56.5%). Majority took self-medication occasionally (72.5%) and most common source were Pharmacists (87.42%) through OTC (81.14%). Most widely used drugs were Analgesics (66.28%) and main indications were headache, body ache and other pains (25.2%). Associations were compared with chi-square test Socio economic status of participants and Vicinity distance from hospital revealed statistically significant result. Socio-economically upper class (p꞊0.018) and participants living more than 500 m away from hospital (p=0.010) tends to take more self medication. Conclusions: There was a heterogeneous spread in the practices. Easy availability of over the counter (OTC) drugs is a major factor responsible for irrational drug use. Community awareness programme, educational interventions should be conducted about side effects of self-medication. Keywords: Slums, Self-medication, Practice, Reason 1 Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, Jabalpur, M.P., India 2 Department of Community Medicine, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, Jabalpur, M.P., India Received: 22 December 2017 Accepted: 11 January 2018 *Correspondence: Dr. Aditya Thakur, E-mail: adityathakur701@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20180274