Disposal of prescription drugs by parents of middle and high school students. Issue 2 (4th March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Egan, Kathleen L.; Gregory, Eric; Wolfson, Mark; Francisco, Vincent T.; Strack, Robert W.; Wyrick, David L.; Perko, Michael A.
• Is Part Of: Journal of child & adolescent substance abuse. Volume 28:Issue 2(2019)
• Page Start: 92
• Page End: 98
• Publication Date: 2019-03-04
• Subjects: adolescent -- children -- parent -- prescription drug; Drug abuse -- Treatment -- Periodicals; Teenagers -- Drug use -- Periodicals; 616.860083
• DOI: 10.1080/1067828X.2019.1590272
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1067-828X

Abstract

Abstract: To determine how parents dispose of unused prescription medications and correlates of disposal, we recruited 3, 043 parents of adolescents to complete a survey. Multivariate and multinomial logistic regression was conducted to examine correlates of disposal of prescription medication. Only 17.8% of parents in a household prescribed a controlled medication in the past year disposed of unused medications. Of those, 36.7% used organized disposal (e.g., take-back event or drop box) and 63.3% disposed of medications at home. Organized disposal was associated with awareness of disposal opportunities. Increasing awareness of organized disposal opportunities is a promising mechanism to increase their use by parents.