抄録
Education for medications was integrated into the Japanese junior high school health and physical education (HPE) guidelines in 2012, in tandem with revisions to the Course of Study. To assess knowledge and awareness of the proper use of medications among students who completed courses pertaining to them, a questionnaire survey was administered at 38 high schools in Gifu Prefecture. The questionnaire's recovery and effective response rates were both 99.7% (1,403/1,407 and 1,399/1,403, respectively).
Further, 86.6% of respondents sought advice from their parents or grandparents when using medicines, with 85.4% responding “No” to a question on whether they had ever purchased medicine based on their own self-judgment. A total of 21.4% of respondents had received medicine from friends, and 21.3% had given medicine away. Responding to a question on whether they were aware of the class content regarding medicines, 31.0% of the students answered “Yes,” 48.0% “I don't know,” and 19.5% “No.” Many of these students who were aware of the class content regarding medicines, however, were found to have never received medicine from nor given it to friends, suggesting the importance of medication-related lessons.
The results of this survey clarified the current state of knowledge and awareness regarding the correct use of medicines among students who have taken the junior high school HPE classes on medicines introduced in 2012. In future, further development of both the classes and the instructions are required, to accomplish the purpose given in the Course of Study.
