Pharmacotherapy Literacy of Parents in the Rural and Urban Areas of Serbia—Are There Any Differences?
<i>Background and objectives</i>: Pharmacotherapy literacy (PHTL) is an individual’s capacity to obtain, evaluate, calculate, and comprehend basic information about pharmacotherapy and pharmacy-related services necessary to make appropriate medication-related decisions, regardl...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2019-09-01
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| Series: | Medicina |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1010-660X/55/9/590 |
| _version_ | 1797707185071849472 |
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| author | Dušanka Krajnović Stana Ubavić Nataša Bogavac-Stanojević |
| author_facet | Dušanka Krajnović Stana Ubavić Nataša Bogavac-Stanojević |
| author_sort | Dušanka Krajnović |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <i>Background and objectives</i>: Pharmacotherapy literacy (PHTL) is an individual’s capacity to obtain, evaluate, calculate, and comprehend basic information about pharmacotherapy and pharmacy-related services necessary to make appropriate medication-related decisions, regardless of the mode of content delivery (e.g., written, oral, visual images and symbols). It is already proven that low PHTL of parents can cause serious problems in the treatment of a pediatric population. We aimed to identify the differences in parental PHTL levels, socio-demographic and health-related characteristics (chronic disease of a child, breastfeeding of a child, annual visits to a pediatrician, parental-self-estimation of health status) between rural and urban areas and to investigate the influence of living in rural areas on a low PHTL level. <i>Materials and methods</i>: Our study was cross-sectional with a validated 14-item instrument (“Parental pharmacotherapy literacy questionnaire—Serbian”), which assessed overall PHTL and its three domains of knowledge, understanding and numerical skills necessary for the safe use of medicines. We analyzed 250 parents of pre-school children (1−7 years old) in rural areas and 182 parents from urban areas in Serbia. <i>Results:</i> Every tenth parent from rural and every fourth parent from urban areas had the highest PHTL level or more than 85% correct answers. However, 51% and 28% of parents in rural and urban areas, respectively, had a low PHTL level (less than 65% correct answers), [Х<sup>2</sup>(1, <i>n</i> = 432) = 33.2; <i>p</i> < 0.001]. Parents from different areas statistically differed in age, education level, employment, breastfeeding and annual visits to pediatrician rate. Those from rural areas had almost twice the probability of low PHTL levels (ORa = 2.033; <i>p</i> = 0.003) than their urban counterparts, independently of other examined parental characteristics. <i>Conclusions</i>: Parents from rural areas have more difficulties to obtain, evaluate, calculate and comprehend basic information related to pharmacotherapy than parents from urban areas. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T06:02:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-49b90fec229a461fab6057851893370f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1010-660X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T06:02:40Z |
| publishDate | 2019-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Medicina |
| spelling | doaj.art-49b90fec229a461fab6057851893370f2023-09-03T03:58:31ZengMDPI AGMedicina1010-660X2019-09-0155959010.3390/medicina55090590medicina55090590Pharmacotherapy Literacy of Parents in the Rural and Urban Areas of Serbia—Are There Any Differences?Dušanka Krajnović0Stana Ubavić1Nataša Bogavac-Stanojević2Department of Social Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Legislation, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade, 11221 Belgrade, SerbiaMedicines and Medical Devices Agency of Serbia (ALIMS), 11221 Belgrade, SerbiaDepartment of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade, 11221 Belgrade, Serbia<i>Background and objectives</i>: Pharmacotherapy literacy (PHTL) is an individual’s capacity to obtain, evaluate, calculate, and comprehend basic information about pharmacotherapy and pharmacy-related services necessary to make appropriate medication-related decisions, regardless of the mode of content delivery (e.g., written, oral, visual images and symbols). It is already proven that low PHTL of parents can cause serious problems in the treatment of a pediatric population. We aimed to identify the differences in parental PHTL levels, socio-demographic and health-related characteristics (chronic disease of a child, breastfeeding of a child, annual visits to a pediatrician, parental-self-estimation of health status) between rural and urban areas and to investigate the influence of living in rural areas on a low PHTL level. <i>Materials and methods</i>: Our study was cross-sectional with a validated 14-item instrument (“Parental pharmacotherapy literacy questionnaire—Serbian”), which assessed overall PHTL and its three domains of knowledge, understanding and numerical skills necessary for the safe use of medicines. We analyzed 250 parents of pre-school children (1−7 years old) in rural areas and 182 parents from urban areas in Serbia. <i>Results:</i> Every tenth parent from rural and every fourth parent from urban areas had the highest PHTL level or more than 85% correct answers. However, 51% and 28% of parents in rural and urban areas, respectively, had a low PHTL level (less than 65% correct answers), [Х<sup>2</sup>(1, <i>n</i> = 432) = 33.2; <i>p</i> < 0.001]. Parents from different areas statistically differed in age, education level, employment, breastfeeding and annual visits to pediatrician rate. Those from rural areas had almost twice the probability of low PHTL levels (ORa = 2.033; <i>p</i> = 0.003) than their urban counterparts, independently of other examined parental characteristics. <i>Conclusions</i>: Parents from rural areas have more difficulties to obtain, evaluate, calculate and comprehend basic information related to pharmacotherapy than parents from urban areas.https://www.mdpi.com/1010-660X/55/9/590parentspharmacotherapy literacyruralpre-school childrenpharmacist |
| spellingShingle | Dušanka Krajnović Stana Ubavić Nataša Bogavac-Stanojević Pharmacotherapy Literacy of Parents in the Rural and Urban Areas of Serbia—Are There Any Differences? Medicina parents pharmacotherapy literacy rural pre-school children pharmacist |
| title | Pharmacotherapy Literacy of Parents in the Rural and Urban Areas of Serbia—Are There Any Differences? |
| title_full | Pharmacotherapy Literacy of Parents in the Rural and Urban Areas of Serbia—Are There Any Differences? |
| title_fullStr | Pharmacotherapy Literacy of Parents in the Rural and Urban Areas of Serbia—Are There Any Differences? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pharmacotherapy Literacy of Parents in the Rural and Urban Areas of Serbia—Are There Any Differences? |
| title_short | Pharmacotherapy Literacy of Parents in the Rural and Urban Areas of Serbia—Are There Any Differences? |
| title_sort | pharmacotherapy literacy of parents in the rural and urban areas of serbia are there any differences |
| topic | parents pharmacotherapy literacy rural pre-school children pharmacist |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1010-660X/55/9/590 |
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