الفهرس 
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Abstract
Self-medication is obtaining and consuming medication without professional supervision regarding indication, dosage, and duration of treatmentto treat self-recognized illnesses or symptoms.
Such ailments may be fever, body pains, indigestion, diarrhea, etc. In any case, several people, friends, relatives and even patent medicine sellers (PMS) may advise the sick person on the type of medicine to take as a cure. The medicine may be an herb or a conventional drug which may be bought over the counter.
The present work was conducted in Sadat city family health center, Menoufia. To study the prevalence of self -medication, factors affecting using and sources of information about use of drugs without prescription.
The study was case control nested in cross sectional study; it was conducted in the time frame from the first of April/2014 to the lastofMarch/2015 .
Method of study conduction:- Two days per the week were chosen by simple random sample (Sunday and Thursday).
Participants were chosen through Systematic random technique using odd number of tickets.
All participants were chosen by systematic random sample technique from the attendants to the family health center. The participants including all age group, males and females the attendants only give the consent and complete the questionnaire during the period of the study was the target population. All patients in the study were assessed using pre –designed questionnaire distributed to all patients.
The sample size of the participants was (365) rounded to (400) to avoid dropout calculated using formula depending on the total number of the attendants in the previous six months of the study. (3471), the prevalence rate in previous studies, at a power 95% using EP Info program.
Self-medication used high in the age group (12-65) years, (72.4%), high among married patient (48.4%), illiterate (18.3%) & unemployed attendants (42.7%). The prevalence of self-medication was (66.80%).
Self-medication was commonly used for person‘s self (72.4%), minor illnesswas the common cause for self-medication (39.8%),pharmacist was the most common source of information about self-medication (37%). The results suggest a significant role for pharmacists to get more involved in patient education regarding practicing self-medication.
Analgesics was the most common type of drug used (17.1%).
Self-medication was used for non-serious, known chronic disease (45.5%) Improvement of the role of health care facility &their availability (51.6%) was the method for prevention of self-medication.
Public education about specific risk/ side effects of self-medication and its importance, by mass media and local government authorities.