DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
4.1 Socio-demographic Characteristics of Respondents
The study sample was predominantly male, with most respondents falling within the 31–
40 age bracket, married, Christian, and educated to at least the secondary level, while traders and
students formed the two largest occupational groups. This profile is consistent with literature
suggesting that economically active, fairly literate adults are more prone to self-medication,
given their relative autonomy, confidence in self-care decisions, and time constraints that
discourage formal consultation. However, several individual characteristics, including the sex
distribution and the predominance of married respondents, diverged from patterns reported in
comparable studies such as Ramalingam et al. (2014), Jalilian et al. (2019), and Feleke et al.
(2019), underscoring that the demographic correlates of self-medication vary considerably across
settings.
4.2 Self-medication Practices
Self-medication was found to be a widespread practice among respondents, with the
majority using medication without a prescription and storing drugs at home for future, often
unsupervised, use, a pattern consistent with prevalence levels reported across comparable
African and international studies. Pharmacies and drug stores were the leading source of
medication, reflecting the role of easy pharmaceutical access in enabling the practice, while
headache and fever emerged as the most common triggers, mirroring findings from several
empirical studies reviewed in Chapter Two. Cough syrups and analgesics were the most
frequently self-administered drug classes, though a notable proportion of respondents also self-
medicated with antibiotics, raising concerns about antimicrobial resistance given the additionally
low rate of full-dosage completion. The practice was also found to be socially transmitted, with
many respondents both believing self-medication to be harmless and advising others to engage in
it, reflecting a critical knowledge gap regarding its associated risks.
4.3 Factors Associated with Self-medication Practices
Perceived mildness of illness emerged as the leading factor driving respondents toward
self-medication, a finding strongly corroborated by Shafie et al. (2018), Ayalew et al. (2017),
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and Gudi et al. (2020), and consistent with the Health Belief Model's premise that self-treatment
occurs when its perceived benefits outweigh the perceived costs of formal consultation. By
contrast, social recommendation from relatives or friends and proximity to a pharmacy carried
relatively little influence in this study, a divergence from several other studies reviewed in
Chapter Two, such as Sissinto et al. (2017), Bifftu et al. (2017), and Feleke et al. (2019), where
peer and family influence were significant predictors. This suggests that, in this setting, self-
medication is driven more by individual assessment of illness severity than by external social
pressure, with implications for how future health education interventions should be designed.
4.4 Association Between Self-medication Practices and Socio-demographic Factors
Of all the socio-demographic variables examined, only marital status showed a
statistically significant association with self-medication practice, with widowed respondents
demonstrating the highest rate of self-medicating, a pattern that aligns directionally with findings
from Feleke et al. (2019) and Bifftu et al. (2017) linking unmarried status to higher odds of self-
medication, possibly reflecting reduced household or spousal support. Sex, age, religion,
educational level, and occupational status, however, showed no significant association with the
practice, a notable departure from much of the existing literature, where these same variables are
frequently significant predictors. This suggests that self-medication in the study community is a
broadly uniform behaviour that cuts across demographic boundaries rather than being
concentrated within specific subgroups, implying that interventions to address it may need to be
population-wide rather than narrowly targeted.
5.1 Conclusion
This study set out to assess self-medication practices and associated factors among
household members of the Mile 3 Nkwen community in Bamenda III, Mezam Division, North-
West Region of Cameroon. Guided by four specific objectives, the study examined the socio-
demographic characteristics of respondents, the prevalence and pattern of self-medication
practices, the factors associated with the practice, and the relationship between self-medication
and socio-demographic variables. The findings revealed that self-medication is a widespread
practice within the study community, with the majority of respondents reporting use of
medication without a prescription and storing medication at home for future, often unsupervised,
use. Headache and fever were the most common indications prompting the practice, while
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pharmacies and drug stores served as the principal source of medication, reinforcing the role of
easy pharmaceutical access as a key enabler of self-medication. Cough syrups and analgesics
were the most frequently self-administered drug classes, but a notable proportion of respondents
also self-medicated with antibiotics, raising concerns regarding the contribution of this practice
to antimicrobial resistance, particularly given the low rate of full dosage completion observed.
Importantly, the study found that perceived mildness of illness, rather than social influence or
pharmacy proximity, was the dominant factor driving the decision to self-medicate, and that a
considerable proportion of respondents believed self-medication to be a harmless practice. This
perception, when considered alongside the high prevalence of premature treatment
discontinuation, points to a critical knowledge gap regarding the risks of unsupervised
medication use within the community. Furthermore, while most socio-demographic variables
examined showed no statistically significant association with self-medication, marital status
emerged as a significant factor, with widowed respondents demonstrating the highest practice
rate, suggesting that reduced household support structures may heighten reliance on self-care.
Taken together, these findings confirm that self-medication in the Mile 3 Nkwen
community is a pervasive, socially embedded, and largely uniform behaviour that cuts across
demographic boundaries rather than being confined to specific subgroups. While the practice
offers a convenient and cost-saving response to minor ailments, it carries substantial public
health risks including delayed diagnosis of serious conditions, adverse drug reactions, and
antimicrobial resistance that are currently underappreciated by the population studied.
Addressing these risks will require coordinated action from multiple stakeholders, as outlined in
the recommendations below.
5.2 Recommendations
Based on the findings and conclusions of this study, the following recommendations are
proposed to relevant stakeholders, namely policymakers, health managers and administrators,
research participants, and the wider community.
5.2.1 Recommendations to Policymakers
1. Strengthen regulation of pharmaceutical dispensing: The Ministry of Public Health
should reinforce and enforce existing regulations governing the sale of prescription-only
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medicines, particularly antibiotics, at pharmacies and patent medicine outlets, to curb the
unsupervised dispensing that this study found to be the leading source of self-medicated
drugs.
2. Develop a national policy on rational drug use: Policymakers should formulate or
strengthen a national policy framework on the rational use of medicines, integrating
public education on the dangers of incomplete dosage regimens and self-medication with
antibiotics, in line with global efforts to curb antimicrobial resistance.
3. Support targeted health literacy campaigns: Given that self-medication in this study
cut across nearly all socio-demographic groups, policymakers should fund broad-based,
population-wide public health education campaigns (radio, community outreach, school
health programmes) rather than narrowly targeted interventions, to correct the widespread
misconception that self-medication is a harmless practice..
5.2.2 Recommendations to Health Managers/Administrators
4. Institute pharmacy and drug-outlet monitoring: Health district managers and
pharmaceutical regulatory bodies should conduct regular supervision and spot-checks of
pharmacies and patent medicine stores within the Bamenda III municipality to ensure
compliance with prescription-only dispensing requirements, especially for antibiotics.
5. Train health personnel on patient counselling: Health facility administrators should
ensure that pharmacists, nurses, and other front-line health workers receive ongoing
training on patient counselling, specifically on the risks of self-medication, the
importance of completing prescribed dosage regimens, and appropriate triage of
symptoms that require formal medical evaluation rather than self-treatment.
6. Integrate self-medication screening into routine care: Health facilities should
incorporate brief screening questions on self-medication history and home medicine
storage into routine consultations, enabling early identification and counselling of
patients at risk of medication misuse, drug interactions, or masked underlying illness.
5.2.3 Recommendations to Research Participants
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7. Seek professional medical advice for persistent or severe symptoms: Participants are
encouraged to consult a qualified health professional, rather than self-medicating,
particularly when symptoms persist, worsen, or recur, since self-treatment of mild-
appearing symptoms can mask more serious underlying conditions.
8. Complete prescribed or recommended dosage regimens: Participants who do use
medication, whether prescribed or self-selected, should be encouraged to complete the
full recommended dosage course to avoid treatment failure, symptom recurrence, and the
development of drug resistance.
9. Avoid storing and reusing leftover medication: Participants should be discouraged
from stockpiling medicines at home for future unsupervised use, and should instead
dispose of unused or expired medication safely, as recommended by health authorities.
5.2.4 Recommendations to the Community
10. Promote community-based health education: Community and traditional leaders, in
partnership with local health workers, should organise periodic health education sessions
or community dialogues to raise awareness about the dangers of self-medication and to
dispel the widely held belief that the practice is harmless.
11. Encourage peer-to-peer responsible health behaviour: Since self-medication was
found to be socially transmitted, with a notable proportion of respondents admitting to
advising others to self-medicate, community members should be encouraged to promote
responsible health-seeking behaviour within their social networks, including referring
symptomatic neighbours and relatives to appropriate health facilities rather than
recommending unprescribed drugs.
12. Support vulnerable households: Community structures, including women's groups,
religious organisations, and neighbourhood associations, should extend social and
material support to widowed and single-headed households, who this study identified as
being at elevated risk of self-medication, to reduce the structural pressures that drive
reliance on self-care.