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What Influences Safe Medication Practices: Investigating the Relationship Between Parent's Intentions, Self-Efficacy and Knowledge

ISEF · 2018 Behavioral and Social Sciences

Garcia , Emily · Young Women's Leadership Academy

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Overview

Prescription drug misuse frequently occurs among adolescents and young adults. Parental guidance and monitoring play a large role in mitigating drug misuse and, potentially, access to prescription drugs. Indeed, 42% of adolescents who reported misusing drugs identified the source as their parent’s medicine cabinet. For this reason, parents’ knowledge, self-efficacy, and intentions about medication practices in the home were assessed. It was hypothesized that parents with high self-efficacy and knowledge about medication safety would have greater intentions to practice safe medication storage. An online survey based on Social Cognitive Theory was developed. Participants were recruited through flyers and online posts. Data collected was analyzed using bivariate and multivariate analyses. Results. The preliminary sample for the current study (N=70) was 85.7% female, 55.7% Hispanic, and 68.6% had a college degree. Majority of the parents (80.0%) had 1-2 children living in their home. Bivariate analysis indicated a significant association between intentions to practice safe medication storage and self-efficacy (r=.556, p<0.005), and a non-significant relationship between intentions and knowledge of medication safety (r=.034, p>0.05). The preliminary results partially support the hypothesis suggesting that when parents are more confident that they may keep their medications safe from their children living at home they may endorse greater intentions to practice safe medication storage. These findings contribute to the existing literature on parent medication practices in the home – with the goal of reducing prescription misuse among adolescents and young adults.

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Awards (1)

  • National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health & the Friends of NIDA: Honorable Mention

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Source: Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair

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