Pharm World Sci (2010) 32:81–89
DOI 10.1007/s11096-009-9346-4
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Validating the Children’s Medicines Use Questionnaire (CMUQ)
in Australia
Michelle Halim • Heather Vincent • Bandana Saini •
Katri Hämeen-Anttila • Kirsti Vainio • Rebekah Moles
Received: 9 June 2009 / Accepted: 20 October 2009 / Published online: 4 November 2009

Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009
Abstract Objective: To pilot test the validity and reli-
ability of the English version of the Children’s Medicines
Questionnaire (CMUQ) and to explore the attitudes of
Australian caregivers towards the use of medicines in
children. Setting: Survey of Australian parents and primary
care givers of children 0–15 years. Methods: The ques-
tionnaire was translated from Finnish to English then back-
translated to ensure semantic equivalence. A total of 153
parents/main caregiver of a child aged 0–15 years were
recruited via convenience sampling. Construct validity of
the attitudinal section of the CMUQ was performed using
exploratory factor analysis. Reliability was assessed using
the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient as a marker of internal
consistency. Three focus groups were conducted to explore
participants’ attitudes towards medicating children and to
triangulate quantitative data. Main outcome measure:
Construct validity and internal reliability of the CMUQ.
Results: Factor analysis generated a parsimonious four
factor solution explaining 50% of variance in the data. The
four subscales representing the four factor solution each
returned a Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient [0.6, indicating
good internal consistency. Participants in focus groups
were satisfied with the structure and content of the
M. Halim
B. Saini
R. Moles (&)
Discipline of Pharmacy Practice, Pharmacy Faculty, University
of Sydney, Room N371, Building A15, Science Road,
Camperdown Campus, Sydney, NSW, Australia
e-mail: rebekahm@pharm.usyd.edu.au
H. Vincent
Pharmacy Practice and Social Pharmacy, The Pharmacy School,
University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
K. Hämeen-Anttila
K. Vainio
Department of Social Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy,
University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland
questionnaire. There were 5 emergent themes through focus
group discussions with parents and primary care givers of
children, regarding the perception of medicines use in chil-
dren. These included, ‘concerns about the negative effects of
medicines’, ‘medicines are useful, necessary and safe in
treating illnesses in children’, ‘the body’s natural processes
are sufficient in fighting illness’, ‘over the counter medicines
are effective and useful in treating illness’, ‘perception of
alternative medicines use in children’. Conclusions: The
CMUQ is a valid and reliable tool to measure parents’
medicine use for their children in an Australian sample.
Although small modifications should be made, this instru-
ment will be valuable in informing the development of
medicines information for this cohort in the future.
Keywords Attitude
Australian children
Child

Factor analysis
Medicines use
Over the counter
medicines
Prescription medicines
Questionnaire
Impact of findings on practice
• The CMUQ has good psychometric properties, and is
an instrument that can be used in larger population
samples, across several English speaking countries to
compile data on parental reports and views about
medicines use in children.
• Data on pediatric medicines use are currently under-
reported, and no universal data collection instruments
exist, the CMUQ provides a way forward to address
this issue.
• This study reports on various issues that parents/
primary caregivers of children reflect about or are
unsure of when using medicines in children.
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• Responses to the CMUQ by parents/primary care givers
in this Australian sample indicate that pharmacists are
considered an important and reliable source of infor-
mation on children’s medicine
• Paediatric medicines use should be a focus of contin-
uing and undergraduate pharmacy education.
Introduction
Children aged 0–15 years represent a fifth of the Australian
population [1], and while the majority of children have
been reported to be in good health[1], they frequently fall
ill and the incidence of chronic illnesses, such as type 1
diabetes and mental health problems are rising [1, 2].
An extensive review of the international literature
highlighted that medicines use to manage illness in chil-
dren is common. Australian children are frequent visitors to
general practitioners (GPs) [3], and medicines are fre-
quently prescribed (99.3 times per 100 consultations) [2].
The most recent data available in Australia regarding over-
the-counter (OTC) medicines use is the 1995 National
Health Survey, which indicated that 51% of parents used
OTC medicines in the treatment of a child’s illness in the
2 weeks prior to surveying [4].
Further, sub-optimal quality use of medicines in chil-
dren poses a problem. Literature evidenced issues with:
administration; adherence; parental/carer belief; and ability
to use as prescribed. Most parents are unaware of the side
effects of OTC medicines [5] and medicines are used for
inappropriate indications, including the use of paracetamol
(acetaminophen) to sedate children [6]. Accidental inges-
tion of medicine is also common [7].
Three separate studies in the USA, Canada and Finland
found that mothers were the most common providers of
medicine information for children [8–10]. Where mothers
derive information regarding medicines is important, as
this will influence how they medicate their children, and in
turn, how children medicate themselves in the future [6].
Little is known about which sources of medicines infor-
mation parents utilise in Australia.
Medicines’ education for children is important as this
ensures that children gain the knowledge and skills to
become rational users of medicines [11]. The Australian
government has implemented the National Drug Strategic
Framework to educate students about illicit drugs in sec-
ondary school [12]. However, currently there is no com-
prehensive medication education for children in Australian
schools, apart from the campaigns about illicit drug use.
There is a need to develop targeted medicines education
to this often neglected cohort of medicine takers and
caregivers; however in order to do this, children’s medicine
taking behavior and the factors that influence children’s
medicine use need to be evaluated in Australia.
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Pharm World Sci (2010) 32:81–89
There are no questionnaires evident in the literature that
measure actual usage, caregiver attitudes towards medicine
use in children and information source and utility. Much of
the data collected in this area relies on national health sur-
veys where disease prevalence and general health care usage
dictate questionnaire design. A focus on medicines has not
been encountered in a comprehensive search for such
instruments. One such research effort has recently emerged
in Finland, who as research leaders in this area, have
developed and conducted a nationwide survey on children’s
medicines use using the Children’s Medicines Use Ques-
tionnaire (CMUQ). This instrument aims to explore the
characteristics of medicine use amongst children and the
attitudes of caregivers towards medicating children.
The CMUQ is divided into three main sections: medi-
cines being used by children, sources of information par-
ents utilize, and statements regarding parents’ attitudes to
medicating children, gauged using a 5 point-Likert scale.
Questions were developed from Finnish national studies
[13, 14] and from qualitative research [15, 16]. Utilizing
the CMUQ in an Australian population will help charac-
terize the epidemiology of children’s medicines use and the
factors that influence medicine-taking behaviour.
Aims of the study
The study aimed to:
1. translate the CMUQ from Finnish to English;
2. test the validity and reliability of the translated CMUQ
within a pilot Australian sample;
3. explore the attitudes of Australian caregivers toward
the use of medicines in children;
4. provide recommendations for future utility of the
CMUQ in Australian settings.
Methods
Quantitative
A Finnish researcher translated the questionnaire to Eng-
lish, which was back-translated to Finnish by another
researcher to allow for detection of errors and to improve
the quality of the final version [17]. An Australian
researcher was consulted to analyze for any language dif-
ferences and a final version agreed upon.
Sample size
As there were 21 items in the attitudinal statements, a
sample size of greater than 105 participants was estimated,
Pharm World Sci (2010) 32:81–89
based on the general rule that one should have at least five
times as many observations as there are variables to be
analyzed [18].
Respondents
Inclusion criteria consisted of parents/primary caregivers
with children aged between 0 and 15 years. Convenience
and snowball sampling was conducted to recruit respon-
dents for the self administered questionnaire by using 2
recruitment strategies. Firstly, by identifying 3 day care
centers located close to the University campus (University
of Sydney), approaching the managers of these centers and
requesting them to distribute the questionnaire to parents.
Secondly, by approaching colleagues within the Faculty of
Pharmacy, University of Sydney known to researchers who
fitted the criteria above. These colleagues were handed
questionnaires and asked to fill in the questionnaires
themselves and further requested to distribute question-
naires to other friends/family/acquaintances who fitted the
study criteria. All questionnaires had a self addressed
stamped envelope attached. This recruitment phase was
carried out between July and October 2007.
Data analysis
Data were entered into SPSS (version 14.00) [19].
Descriptive statistics were tabulated for demographic data,
and to identify incorrect/missing entries. Exploratory factor
analysis was used to test construct validity [20] of the
attitudinal statements (Sect. 3 of CMUQ) and to determine
the factor structure. Some items showed significant skew-
ness in differing and these items were corrected by log
transformation. Following this, all items were standardized
using Systat Software 11 [21]. Examination of the corre-
lation matrix revealed that all correlations were significant
at the 0.01 level (correlations [ 0.30) and the Kaiser-
Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy was
0.734, exceeding the value 0.6 recommended by Kaiser
[22], thus adequate for factor analysis.
Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was the method of
extraction used as it yielded a parsimonious factor structure
and also allowed the extraction of maximum variance from
the data set with each component [23]. PCA was used with
Varimax orthogonal rotation to maximize the variance of
factor loadings by making high loadings higher and low
ones lower for each factor [23]. The ‘‘Eigenvalue greater
than 1’’ rule, visual inspection of the Scree Plot, and the
number of items loading on the factor were all used to
determine how many factors to retain [24]. Internal con-
sistency of items were measured using Cronbach’s alpha
[20] Cronbach’s alpha coefficients less than 0.5 are
considered unacceptable [25]. Prior to conducting the
83
reliability analysis, scoring of negatively-worded items
were reversed [24].
Qualitative methods
Focus groups
Focus groups were conducted to allow face validity of the
CMUQ to be established [20, 26], and to elaborate and
enrich quantitative data. Focus group participants were
recruited in the same manner as for the questionnaire.
Focus group facilitation was carried out by an indepen-
dent research colleague trained in group facilitation.
Focus group participants were reimbursed for traveling
costs to the venue with a $20 voucher. In the planning of
focus groups, it was decided that there would be several
focus groups with 4–8 participants in each group, with the
intent of reaching data saturation. Focus group discussions
were audio-recorded. Focus groups were carried out in
October 2007 at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of
Sydney.
Focus group participants were asked to comment on
the questionnaires’ appearance and provide advice on
ideas for improvement [26]. In addition, they discussed
issues they faced and attitudes they had, regarding med-
icating their children. Following transcription, data were
analyzed into thematic frameworks. Two researchers were
involved in the development of the coding frame inde-
pendently, which was then compared to ensure inter-coder
reliability. Approval for the study was granted from the
University of Sydney’s Human Research Ethics Com-
mittee (Ref 9980).
Results
Quantitaive
Respondents
Of the 375 questionnaires distributed, 153 were returned,
yielding a 41% response rate. The survey revealed that
52% of children about whom medicine use was reported by
parents/primary care givers were girls. The mean age of
children for whom parents/primary caregivers reported on
medicine use was 6 years (standard deviation = 4.3). The
majority of respondents (85%) were mothers and nearly
three-quarters had tertiary qualifications. The sample was
of middle- to high-socioeconomic status as determined
from net annual incomes. The majority of participants
indicated that their children’s health status was good
(Table 1). However, there were substantial missing data
(13%, n = 20/153)
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Table 1 Participants’ rating of child’s health status at the time of These factors included; (1) the negative effects of medi-
survey (n = 133) cines, (2) the necessity of medicines in treating illness, (3)
Health status of children Frequency (%) the body’s capacity in treating illness, and (4) the effec-
tiveness of OTC medicines.
Good 85 (63.9)
Fairly good 36 (27.1)
Moderate 10 (7.5)
Use of medicines
Fairly poor 2 (1.5)
Total 133
Parents and caregivers sampled, recorded that one-fifth of
Missing 20
the children were using prescription medicines (n = 31/
Total 153
153) and 44% (n = 67/151) had used OTC medicines,
which included vitamin supplements. Table 4 lists com-
Validity and reliability of the CMUQ monly used medicines and the conditions for which they
are used.
The factor analysis resulted in a parsimonious 4 factor Harm resulting from the use of medicines was reported
solution explaining 50% of total variance (Table 2). All by 9% of participants (n = 13/152). Adverse effects of
factors had a Cronbach’s Alpha greater than or near 0.7, antibiotics and ibuprofen were the two main identified
thus the four factor solution was seen as reliable (Table 3). causes of harm.

Table 2 Factor loadings of attitudinal items

Factor Items 1 2 3 4

1
Negative effects of medicines Interactions of medicines worry me 0.71 0.08 -0.14 0.25
Long-term use of analgesics reduces pain threshold 0.68 -0.13 0.02 -0.04
Medicines are unnatural to human body 0.62 0.14 0.21 0.06
The more you need to use analgesics the less effective they are for pain 0.73 -0.02 0.25 -0.09
Side-effects of children’s medicines worry me 0.54 0.21 -0.08 0.12
I usually give analgesics to the child less than is recommended in the 0.47 0.08 0.20 -0.19
instructions
Medicines can disturb the body’s own capacity to heal illnesses 0.58 0.11 0.37 -0.05
Medicines are dangerous, even when used according to instructions 0.49 0.01 0.31 0.09
Doctors prescribe antibiotics to children too easily 0.42 0.21 0.01 -0.10
2
Medicines are necessary in treating Medicines are necessary in treating illnesses -0.03 0.67 0.25 0.08
illness I try to avoid giving medicines to my child 0.18 0.53 0.07 -0.09
Prescription medicines are safe 0.11 0.70 -0.30 0.25
Medicine that a doctor has prescribed for the child are necessary 0.15 0.71 -0.07 -0.03
Prescription medicines are effective -0.02 0.66 0.19 -0.05
3
Body is capable of dealing with illness Fever, natural means of defense of the child’s body, should not be 0.15 0.05 0.74 0.22
without medicines lowered artificially with medicines
The child needs to learn how to bear the pain 0.24 0.01 0.76 0.01
4
OTC medicines are efficacious I take care of my child’s little ailments by using OTCs -0.03 0.12 0.37 0.73
OTC medicines are effective 0.08 0.03 0.11 0.78

Cross-loading items I try to take care of my child’s ailments by some other means than 0.51 0.28 0.46 -0.27
using medicines
I take my child to see a doctor only when other ways of treatment do 0.31 0.25 0.25 -0.49
not help
OTC medicines are safe 0.14 0.51 -0.26 0.49
Bold italic values show the factor loadings

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Table 3 Factor reliability (via Cronbach’s Alpha), percentage variance explained by each factor in the attitudinal scale, and Eigenvalues of each
factor
Factor Cronbach’s Alpha % Total variance Eigenvalues

1 0.779 23 4.8
Negative effects of medicines
2 0.628 12 2.5
Medicines are necessary in treating illness
3 0.738 9 1.8
Body is capable of dealing with illness without medicines
4 0.663 7 1.5
OTC medicines are efficacious

Table 4 Common medical

Conditions Medication classa Percent (%)b
conditions and medicines used
by children in survey Prescription medicines (n = 153)
Upper respiratory tract infection Antibiotics 8
Eczema Topical corticosteroids 6
Asthma B2 agonist and corticosteroids 5
Allergies/eczema Corticosteroids 3
Otitis/conjunctivitis Topical antibiotics 3
Over-the-counter medicines (n = 151)
a
Medications were classified Fever Acetaminophen 10
according to the ATC/DDD
Index 2007 Cold and cough Cough and cold preparation 9
http://www.whocc.no/atcddd/ Eczema Plain and weak corticosteroids 6
b
Percentages are not mutually Allergies Antihistamines 5
exclusive, as some children Vitamin supplement Omega-3-triglycerides 5
suffer more than 1 condition

Respondents indicated that doctors were the most used
source of medicines information (90%), followed by
pharmacists (74%), and family/friends (36%). Doctors and
pharmacists were perceived as the most reliable provider of
medicines information, where 91% of participants
(n = 137/151) perceived doctors to be reliable and 71% of
participants saw pharmacists (n = 102/145) to be reliable.
The internet was also mentioned by participants as an
important source (after family/friends).
Seventy-two percent of parents indicated that the
appropriate age for independent use of medicines was
clustered between the 12–17 years age bracket (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Age perceived

40
satisfactory by participants
(n = 148) for independent use
of medicines in children
30
Frequency

20

10

0
less than 4 - 5 6-7 8-9 10 - 11 12 - 13 14 - 15 16 - 17 18 or no
4 years years years years years years years years older opinion
age for independent medicine use

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Qualititaive
Participants
Fourteen participants were recruited into focus groups.
Three focus groups were conducted (n = 4, 6, 4) with
saturation of themes apparent after the third group
discussion.
Various themes regarding medicine use in children
were raised by participants in focus groups, which were
similar to the solutions obtained in the factor analysis.
There were 5 distinct themes that emerged, as discussed
below;
1. Concerns about negative effects of medicines
Negative aspects of medicines use in children were
expressed by participants. Comments ranged from
expressing dangers in overusing medicines to fears of
adverse effects of medicines;
‘‘Children’s medicines are very difficult to know
when and how to use them effectively. Overall I feel
that OTC medicines and prescription medicines are
recommended too easily and often abused’’ (Focus
Group3, Participant #1)
‘‘It is a concern for me when my child uses Panadol
(acetaminophen) for one whole week… is it okay if
the child uses it for more than 48 hours? Could it be
affecting his liver?’’ (Focus Group1, Participant #1)
2. Medicines are useful, necessary and safe in treating
illnesses in children
It was observed that generational use of medicines in the
family played a role in increasing the perception of safety
and effectiveness of medicines;
‘‘Some parents use medicines because their parents
used it all the time… so they say ‘ah yeah that’s
alright’’’ (Focus Group 1, Participant #2)
3. The body’s natural processes are sufficient in fighting
illness
Some participants indicated that some conditions need
not be treated with medicines. Rather, the body’s natural
mechanism is sufficient in overcoming illness;
‘‘I have found leaving fevers untreated to be the most
effective way for her to get better, quickly and nat-
urally’’ (Focus Group1, Participant #4)
4. OTC medicines are effective and useful in treating
illness
Many participants reported usage of various OTC
products for treating minor ailments in children. Some also
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Pharm World Sci (2010) 32:81–89
believed OTC medicines should be first-line treatment for
children’s illness
‘‘With the three year old, she… couldn’t get the
mucus out of her nose. I just settled her down with the
Demazin’’ (chlorpheniramine maleate and phenyl-
ephrine hydrochloride) (Focus Group2, Participant
#2)
5. Perception of alternative medicines use in children
Participants had mixed responses toward using alterna-
tive medicines in children. Some advocated their use due to
personal experience;
‘‘I’d rather give herbal. My 14 year old was born with
eczema… and they started him on prednisolone but
these medicines only block the symptoms. I needed to
deal with his immune system so now he goes natural
and hasn’t had an episode in 2 years’’ (Focus Group2,
Participant #3)
However others were concerned of the adverse effects
and unknown safety profile of alternative medicines;
[with herbal medicines] ‘‘I don’t want them to have a
major allergic reaction’’ (Focus Group2, Participant
#1)
As opposed to the questionnaire response, focus group
discussions suggested that age was not a barrier to chil-
dren’s independent use of medicines. Rather, issues such as
the child’s maturity and the type of medicine used were
greater influences of children’s independent use of medi-
cines. Focus group participants suggested that children
exhibited maturity to undertake responsibility at different
ages, and therefore ‘age’ itself was not a determinant in self
administration of medicines. Further some participants
suggested that some chronic conditions necessitated med-
icine use, children used to taking these medicines for long
periods of time were quite capable of self administering
medicines, whereas a medicine taken on an acute basis
posed more problems.
Participants in focus groups also assessed the face
validity of the CMUQ. The majority of participants found
the CMUQ straightforward, however, some commented on
the length of the questionnaire and some items were dif-
ficult to answer due to the ambiguity of wording and the
lack of options in the answers.
Discussion
The present study was conducted to examine the validity
and reliability of the translated English CMUQ within an
Australian sample and to provide recommendations for a
Pharm World Sci (2010) 32:81–89
future national study. We also explored the attitudes of
Australian parents/caregivers towards medicines use in
children. This is the first instrument targeting parents and
primary caregivers that maps the use of and attitudes
towards medicines in children which has undergone initial
psychometric testing.
Reliability and validity are two important qualities that
help establish the credibility of findings measured by an
instrument [27]. The 4 Factor analysis solution obtained
accounted for 50% of the variance and factors demon-
strated good internal consistency. Further, the factor
structure resonated well with themes discussed in focus
groups. The factor solution contained 3 items that cross-
loaded, which generally should be removed [28], however
these were maintained in the final version of the CMUQ for
the sake of comparability with the Finnish data. Focus
group discussions also supported the overall face validity
of the CMUQ. Following up on specific comments from
the focus group participants, the questionnaire needs some
minor modifications. For example, the development of
items regarding perceptions about alternative medicines’
use in children and creating more ‘choices’ for respondents
selection when answering questions about attitudes to
medicine. The format of the questionnaire too needs some
adjustment, as some questions appeared to have gone
repeatedly unanswered because of the way they were pre-
sented. There were substantial missing answers for ques-
tions 5 and 6 which relate to respondents’ perception of the
child’s current health status. It is postulated that this was
due to the layout of the question (top right corner) which
made it easy for participants to overlook. Nonetheless data
collated through both the quantitative and qualitative
analyses above suggest that the CMUQ has potential for
use in large population studies including cross-sectional
data comparisons with several nations.
Although the method of sampling used in this pilot study
was not aimed at yielding a representative sample of the
population, results show that the sample obtained had
similarities to published population data [1, 4, 29–31]. The
majority of CMUQ participants indicated that their child
was healthy, which was similar to previous findings
showing that 97% of children were reported to be in ‘good’
to ‘excellent’ health by their parents [1]. Nonetheless, in
our sample, high usage of medicines was reported, similar
again to that reflected in the 1995 National Health Survey
[4]. The most common illnesses for which children were
treated by GPs in this study were asthma, upper respiratory
tract infections (URTIs), allergies and conjunctivitis, sim-
ilar to previous reports [1]. Despite evidence of the limited
effects of antibiotics in conditions such as URTIs, sinusitis
and otitis media [32], these appeared to be commonly used
and interestingly, the majority of harm reported in the
survey was due to antibiotic adverse effects. This
87
highlights that further investigations of these issues in
populations studies is imperative to improve how medi-
cines are used safely and effectively in children.
Participants noted that medicines information were
derived from many areas, including the GP, relatives/
friends, pharmacists and the internet. In previous studies
the main sources of medicines information have been
nominated to be physicians, family and friends[30]; more
recent studies additionally identify the pharmacist and the
internet as other sources of information [31, 33]. The
CMUQ showed that participants use the internet and the
pharmacist often, reflecting this shifting trend in sources of
medicines information, signifying emerging roles for the
pharmacist. It may, however be that respondent selection
methods (staff at the Faculty of Pharmacy, and their
family/friends/acquaintances) biased these results.
Participants in focus groups and the survey discussed
issues regarding the independent use of medicines in
children. The majority of participants were comfortable in
allowing children to take medicines independently at the
age of twelve onwards, however, it seems that the child’s
personality and maturity plays a strong role in this inde-
pendence. Interestingly, children seem to hold similar
beliefs. In a study by Chambers et al. [10], Canadian
children reported that they began to self-administer medi-
cines for pain when they were approximately 11 or
12 years old. A Finnish study reported that children aged
11–12 years believed they could self-medicate in certain
circumstances. Older children in the study (16–17 years)
indicated that the individuals’ personal characteristics, such
as skills [34] need to be taken into account as well as age.
Little has been reported in the literature regarding neg-
ative perceptions of medicines by parents and their per-
ception of the use of alternative medicines in children.
Many focus group participants erroneously perceived OTC
medicines to be safe and efficacious. This view correlated
with previous studies by Simon and Birchley, which
showed that OTC medicines’ were believed to be safe [5,
35]. However, it is known that deaths have occurred in
young children due to overdosing of common products
such as dextromethorphan, pseudoephedrine, and acet-
aminophen [36].
Study limitations
Respondents in the study were conveniently selected;
hence may not be considered as a representative sample.
Within this sample, socio-economic variables such as lit-
eracy levels and household income may be higher than the
Australian average, therefore the CMUQ’s psychometric
properties may need to be re-evaluated in a larger, more
representative sample.
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Whilst the development of the Finnish version of the
CMUQ had been developed based on prior qualitative
research, this was not the case in this study. However,
feedback from the respondents can be used to further refine
the CMUQ for greater relevance to the Australian parent/
caregiver populace.
Similarly, participants in the focus groups were conve-
niently selected and variations in age, gender, education,
number of children and cultural backgrounds may impact
on their views. Data were not collected on the demo-
graphics of the focus group participants so there is limited
understanding of the factors that influenced their opinions.
Further validity research could also explore caregiver’s
opinions of the CMUQ’s results.
Conclusion
The results of this study show that the English version of
CMUQ is a valid and reliable tool to gauge the extent of
issues in the use of medicines in Australian children.
Although minor modifications should be made this instru-
ment will be valuable in informing the development of
medicines information for this cohort in the future. Inap-
propriate use of medicines in children within the sample of
parents/caregivers highlights the need for further investi-
gation, quantification of issues, and the design, imple-
mentation and evaluation of educational interventions to
ensure the quality use of medicines in children.
Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the
International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) for presenting the
‘‘Young Scientists award for professional innovation’’ (1000 Euros)
to Dr Moles, which has made the collaborative work with the Finnish
authors possible. The Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sydney,
offers infrastructure support for students undertaking an honours
project in this case Ms Michelle Halim, and this is acknowledged.
Funding The project was not funded through any research grants.
Conflict of interest None.
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