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This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2007.123257v1 98/6/1115    most recent Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Goldsworthy, R. C. Articles by Mayhorn, C. B. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Goldsworthy, R. C. Articles by Mayhorn, C. B.

Richard C. Goldsworthy, PhD, Nancy C. Schwartz, PhD and Christopher B. Mayhorn, PhD

Richard C. Goldsworthy and Nancy C. Schwartz are with The Academic Edge Inc, Bloomington, IN. Christopher B. Mayhorn is with the Ergonomics/Experimental Psychology Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Richard C. Goldsworthy, PhD, Director, Research & Development, Academic Edge Inc, 108 E 14th St, Bloomington, IN 47408 (e-mail: rick{at}academicedge.com).

Objectives. We sought to document the frequency, circumstances, and consequences of prescription medication–sharing behaviors and to use a medication-sharing impact framework to organize the resulting data regarding medication-loaning and -borrowing practices.

Methods. One-on-one interviews were conducted in 2006, and participants indicated (1) prescription medicine taken in the past year, (2) whether they had previously loaned or borrowed prescription medicine, (3) scenarios in which they would consider loaning or borrowing prescription medicine, and (4) the types of prescription medicines they had loaned or borrowed.

Results. Of the 700 participants, 22.9% reported having loaned their medications to someone else and 26.9% reported having borrowed someone else’s prescription. An even greater proportion of participants reported situations in which medication sharing was acceptable to them.

Conclusions. Sharing prescription medication places individuals at risk for diverse consequences, and further research regarding medication loaning and borrowing behaviors and their associated consequences is merited.