self-medication and related factors among university students in iran

background and purpose: self-medication is a global medical issue, the rate of which has been reported to be on the rise in recent years. this study aimed to evaluate the prevalence rate of self-medication and the associated factors among the university students of ahvaz city, iran. materials and methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted at jundishapur and shahid chamran universities of ahvaz, iran in 2015. in total, 680 university students were selected from 16 different medical and non-medical schools to participate in this study. using the easy sampling method, 45 students were selected from each school. data collection tools included the socio-demographic questionnaire and a researcher-made questionnaires consisting of 12 items to evaluate self-medication. data analysis was performed in spss v.20 using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), independent t-test, and chi-square test.  results: in this study, prevalence rate of self-medication among the selected university students was 81.6%. the most frequent medicines used by the students were adult cold (69.05%), analgesics (48.23%), and antibiotics (31.02%). moreover, preventive factors of self-medication among the subjects included family and friends (96.32%), lack of belief in the effectiveness of self-medication (93.82%), and fear of the complications associated with self-medication (88.97%). conclusion: according to the results of this study, university students had a positive attitude toward self-medication. therefore, it is recommended that the knowledge and attitude of these individuals be promoted through the implementation of related training programs in order to reduce public tendency toward self-medication.