Factors associated with self-medication among family caregivers: A cross-sectional study

Context. Family caregivers are usually under stress for caring patients and reported to be vulnerable to health problems. Self-medication is considered to be one of the effective measures of self-care in dealing with daily health problems and being promoted in Japan as health policy for reducing the frequency of medical consultation and the national healthcare burden. However, few reports have assessed the use of self-medication among family caregivers of community-dwelling adult patients and associated factors with its use.

Objective. The study aimed to describe self-medication use among family caregivers of community-dwelling adult patients, and to explore the factors related to the use of self-medication.

Study Design. Survey

Setting. Family caregivers who were caring for community-dwelling adult patients were invited to answer self-administered questionnaire from November 2020 to January 2021 in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.

Population studies. Of the 887 family caregivers who responded to the survey, 793 family caregivers who were aged 40–74 years and caring for community-dwelling adult patients with chronic conditions.

Outcome Measures. The use of any self-medication in the last 2 weeks by family caregivers was set to be a primary outcome. Independent variables are covariates including baseline characteristics of family caregivers and their experience with healthcare professionals using the Japanese version of the Caregivers’ Experience Instrument (J-IEXPAC CAREGIVERS).

Results. The mean age of the family caregivers was 61.4 years, and 206 males (26.0%) and 587 females (74.0%). A total of 267 (34.4%) family caregivers reported that they had used self-medication in the last 2 weeks. Logistic regression analysis showed that being women (odds ratio (OR) = 1.85; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.25–2.75) and having lower score on the J-IEXPAC CAREGIVERS (OR per 1 SD increase = 0.81; 95% CI, 0.68–0.95) were associated with the use of self-medication.

Conclusion. This study revealed that about one-third of family caregivers use self-medication, and its use is associated with a lower experience with healthcare professionals. Giving the finding, healthcare professionals who have involved in the care of community-dwelling adult patients living with family caregivers should be concerned about the health condition of family caregivers and to provide appropriate advice for their self-medication.