Effectiveness of a School-Based Medicine Safety Program for Children in Karachi: A Pre-Post Quasi-Experimental Study

Le résumé fourni par la source

Background: Educational health programs can help to deliver lifelong knowledge about the safe and appropriate use of medicines. Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention on children's knowledge of Over-the-Counter Medicine Safety. Methods: This school-based interventional study was conducted from October 2024 to January 2025 in a private girls' school in Karachi. Lower secondary students in classes V-VIII completed a pre- and post-questionnaire on medication safety. The educational content was adapted from publicly available resources provided by the Scholastic OTC Medicine Safety program. Student knowledge was assessed using the OTC Medicine Safety Assessment (OTC-MSA), a standardized pre-/post-intervention quiz provided in the curriculum. The Paired t-test, ANOVA (analysis of variance), and post hoc tests were used to compare test scores (P < 0.05). Results: Of the 724 students enrolled, 607 (83.8%) completed the over-the-counter Medicine Safety program. Knowledge scores ranged from 19.7 ± 2.9 in the pre-test and 23.5 ± 2.7 in the post-test (p<0.001), with an average percentage improvement of 19.1%. The effect size was enormous (Cohen's d = 1.36, 95% CI: [1.25, 1.47]). A one-way ANOVA showed a significant difference in change scores across the classes (p<0.001). Tukey's HSD post hoc analysis revealed a statistically significant difference in post-test scores between Class V and Class VIII, and between Class VI and Class VIII (p<0.001). Conclusion: The findings indicate a statistically significant improvement in children's individual knowledge of medication safety, providing a new platform for introducing medication safety education in schools.

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