School Program Improves Adolescents Short- and Long-term Knowledge of Responsible Medicine Use

Objective: Evaluations of the OTC Medicine Safety program confirm that safety knowledge gaps significantly improve after one exposure. We evaluated students’ knowledge throughout the school year. Methods: Twenty participating schools administered quizzes to measure students’ safety knowledge. Ten test schools implemented the program and measured baseline knowledge, and at 1 week, 10 weeks, and 8 months. Ten control schools administered quizzes using a similar timeline. Following quiz completion, control schools implemented the program. Results: At baseline, students had 43.5% correct answers. One week later, test students increased 27.1 points (p < .001), statistically higher than control students (-2.2 points, p < .001). Ten weeks after participation, test students’ remained improved (+23.6 points, p < .001), significantly higher than control students (-0.3 point, p < .001). At 8 months, test students’ remained higher than baseline (+25.5 points, p < .001), and significantly higher than control students (+1.06 points, p < .001). We found statistically significant improvement over time in urban schools, low socioeconomic (SES) schools, grades 5 and 6, and between boys and girls. Conclusion: OTC Medicine Safety improved students’ short- and long-term knowledge of safe practices with similar results across school type, SES setting, minority enrollment, grade, and sex.