Promotion of appropriate knowledge and attitude towards medicines among schoolchildren in Jordan: the role of teachers

Abstract

Abstract Objectives The current study aimed to examine the knowledge, attitude and practice of schoolteachers in Jordan towards medication. Furthermore, it assessed teachers' views regarding the importance of school education in the promotion of appropriate and safe use of medicines. Methods All Facebook groups of teachers who were members of the Jordan Teachers Syndicate and/or teachers employed by Jordan Ministry of Education were invited to participate. A cross-sectional online survey using a validated pre-piloted anonymous Arabic questionnaire was created using Google documents. The questionnaire was automatically hosted via a unique URL. Researchers downloaded real-time questionnaire responses. Data were coded and entered into SPSS database for windows version 22 for statistical analysis. Key findings A total of 902 teachers filled in the questionnaire. The mean knowledge score achieved in multiple-choice questions was 2.43 ± 0.51 out of 4.00. The top three factors affecting all of teachers’ knowledge questions were as follows: age, the presence of chronic disease, and the school grade that they taught. Teachers showed variation in their attitude towards education about medicines in children. The majority (80.7%) of teachers were unfamiliar with education about medication and had never taught schoolchildren about any issues related to proper use of medications. Conclusions The study highlighted that teachers’ knowledge about medicines was not satisfactory enough for them to become active health educators. At the same time, they were willing to educate children about proper use of medicines, and such education should be started at the first grade (i.e. 6 years old).