How Parents of Teens Store and Monitor Prescription Drugs in the Home

Abstract

Qualitative interviews were conducted with parents of teens to explore how parents store and monitor prescription drugs in the home. Most parents had prescription drugs in the house, but took few precautions against teens accessing these drugs. Strategies for monitoring included moving the drugs to different locations, remembering how many pills were left, and how medication containers were positioned. Reasons given for not securing drugs were that parents did not think that their teens would be interested in their prescription drugs and did not believe that they could be used to get high. This study highlights the need for parents to be educated about securing prescription drugs, the dangers of non-medical prescription drug use by teens, and which drugs might be used for non-medical purposes.