Women's beliefs about medication use during their pregnancy: a UK perspective

Twigg, Michael ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0910-3850, Lupattelli, Angela and Nordeng, Hedvig (2016) Women's beliefs about medication use during their pregnancy: a UK perspective. International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy, 38 (4). 968–976. ISSN 2210-7703

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Abstract

Background: Previous research has examined the number and extent of medicines taking in pregnant women but not their beliefs and risk perception surrounding their use. Objective: To describe beliefs and risk perception associated with medicines use for the treatment of common acute conditions among UK women and explore whether this is related to actual medicines use. Settings: Cross-sectional, web-based study in the UK Methods: Pregnant women and mothers within one year of giving birth were invited to participate in an online cross-sectional questionnaire-based study via a pregnancy website in the UK. Anonymous data were collected from women regarding their use of medicines (both over-the-counter and prescribed) and their beliefs regarding medicines use during pregnancy. Main outcome measures: Pregnant women’s beliefs about medicines and their relation to pharmacological treatment of acute conditions in pregnancy. Results: Pharmacological treatment of conditions in pregnancy ranged from 65.4% for urinary tract infections (UTIs) to 1.1% for sleeping problems. Almost three out of ten women avoided using some medications during pregnancy. For heartburn and UTIs, women who did not treat the condition viewed medicines in general as being overused, more harmful and less beneficial, than those who treated the condition. In general, UK pregnant women perceived medicines to be beneficial and slightly overused. Conclusions: Women’s beliefs about medications impact on treatment of specific conditions in pregnancy such as heartburn and UTIs. Healthcare professionals should explore patient’s beliefs regarding medication at the first maternity care visit to promote appropriate medication use in pregnancy.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	beliefs about medicines,medicines,pregnancy,risk perception,united kingdom
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Pharmacy (former - to 2024)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Patient Care
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	17 May 2016 12:00
Last Modified:	25 Sep 2024 23:49
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/58777
DOI:	10.1007/s11096-016-0322-5

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