Knowledge, Perception, and Practices towards the Use of Over-the-Counter Drugs Among CEU Manila students before and during COVID-19 pandemic

The practice of self-management of symptoms through over-the-counter (OTC) drugs have long been present way before the COVID-19 pandemic and is a known “quick fix” for any discomfort. This research aims to assess the Knowledge, Perception, and Practices of the use of OTC drugs among CEU-Manila students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional correlational design was used as an approach to assess the respondent’s knowledge, perception, and practice. A random sampling method was used, and survey questionnaires were sent to 371 students of CEU Manila from both medical and non-medical programs. The research concluded that there is a ‘good knowledge’ of OTC drug use before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and had a ‘very positive perception’ before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. While utilization of OTC drugs by CEU-Manila students indicates ‘often engaged’ with a mean of 3.59 and 3.73. A p-value of 0.174 indicates no significant relationship between respondents' knowledge before and during the pandemic. However, a significant relationship between perception and practices before and during the pandemic, with p-values of 0.001 and 0.000, respectively. The analysis showed an alpha value of below 0.05 for the perception and practice towards over-the-counter drug use, suggesting that the null hypothesis be rejected. Thus, based on the overall findings, this study claims that there is a satisfactory and correct knowledge, perception, and practices towards OTC drug use before and during the pandemic among the undergraduate students of CEU-Manila.