Self-medication and antibiotic use: qualitative analysis in a virtual community

Abstract

Antibiotics were a major revolution in the scientific world and in the field of health for medical practice. However, although approximately a century has elapsed since the discovery of penicillin, until the present moment there is a great lack of knowledge by the population in general and also by professionals about antibiotic therapy, which creates difficulties in its implementation in an adequate way. As a result, a study was carried out with the population residing in Pará in order to assess their knowledge about antibiotics and self-medication. For this, a questionnaire by Google Forms with six guiding questions was applied in a virtual community created on Instagram and Bardin's content analysis was carried out. Thus, among the 50 participants, results were obtained on knowledge, difficulties and consequences related to the use of antibiotics. It was noted that the problems still to be faced are the insufficient therapeutic recommendations passed on to individuals by health professionals, the difficulty of access and the empirical knowledge brought by people. Therefore, the importance of this topic in health is perceptible, as it can result in the aggravation of diseases, so it is necessary to raise awareness of the risks, of low adherence to treatment and encourage of appropriate use, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic where there was a greater increase in the irrational use of antibiotics.