A study of attitude towards medication and medical help-seeking among medical and pharmacy students.

Background: Attitude towards medication and medical help-seeking varies among students and has a bearing on keeping optimum health. There is a paucity of studies examining these variables among medical and pharmacy students. Aims: To know the attitude towards medication and medical help-seeking and its relationship in medical and pharmacy students. Materials and Methods: Three hundred and six students (Pharmacy =162, Medical =144) were assessed with socio-demographic and clinical proforma, Hogan Drug Attitude Inventory, and the action/intention sub-scale of Attitudes toward medical help-seeking scale. Results: Mean score on DAI score and ATMHSS were 14.02 and 26.29 respectively. Pharmacy group had statistically significantly lower score (MU=1.012, Z=-2.012, p=.044) on DAI. There was a statistically significant group difference between poor & partial drug attitude (MU=6570.500, Z=-2.425, p=.015), and poor & good drug attitude (MU=1532.000, Z=-2.686, p=.007) on the score of ATMHSS. Conclusion: Pharmacy students tend to have negative attitude towards medication use as compared to medical students. There is negative association between poor attitude towards medication and medical help seeking.