Talking about medicines with the adolescent public

what do they really want to know?

Abstract

The availability of reliable information on medicines is essential to ensure their rational use. Inappropriate self-medication can result in intoxication, allergic re-actions, dependence, and even lead the individual to death. The objective of this paper was to introduce the theme on medicines in the school environment, to face the problem of self-medication, since providing safe and reliable information about medicines to the population, including the adolescent public, is one of the ways to contribute to the rational use of these technologies in health. In this sense, activities were developed to identify what kind of information about medications was desired by the adolescents, and what previous knowledge they had on the topic. Subsequently, an educational action was carried out to expand the knowledge of the class on the chosen themes, and the culmination of the meetings was achieved through a workshop. This paper is a case report of a re-search/extension project approved by the Research Ethics Committee (CAAE: 28207620.6.0000.5699). Thirty-five students, aged between 15 and 18 years, en-rolled in a state school in North Fluminense, participated in the activities. Eight meetings were held from June to November 2023. 91% of the students stated that the topic on "medications" had never been discussed with them at school, and 74% reported that they had used or frequently use medications on their own, without the guidance of a health professional. When the students were asked which topics about medications, they would like to be addressed with them, 43% stated that they would like to talk about self-medication, and the category of anti-depressant medications was chosen by the class to obtain more information about (26% preferred). Regarding the activity for evaluating the previous knowledge and the educational action, both about antidepressants, conversation circles were chosen. As for the workshop, the following products can be mentioned: the creation of games, videos and posters.