OBJECTIVES : One of the factors contributing to irrational drug use is low medicine literacy in the community. This study aimed to conduct education intervention for improving medicine literacy among the community, particularly regarding antibiotics and self-medication.

METHODS : This study used one group pretest-posttest design conducted in Yogyakarta city, Indonesia. Purposive sampling was applied to select respondents for the study, which were women active as health cadres. The study began with instrument development to measure medicine literacy regarding antibiotics and self-medication and followed by the development of education material in forms of power point presentation and leaflet. Pretest-posttest to measure the medicine literacy were conducted before and after the intervention.

RESULTS : The study involved 82 women as respondents. The mean scores of antibiotics literacy for pretest and posttest were 75.37±14.90 and 80.46±11.47, respectively. Meanwhile, the mean scores of self-medication literacy for pretest and posttest were 72.20±12.48 and 83.35±11.22, respectively. There were significant improvements in literacy regarding antibiotics and self-medication before and after the intervention (p=0.000). Socio-demographic factors did not correlate with the literacy improvement (p>0.05). Some aspects of medicine literacy need to be improved including interval and duration of antibiotics, the indication of antibiotics, and the administration of some drugs due to the dosage forms for self-medication.

CONCLUSIONS : This study concluded that education intervention using a presentation and leaflet could improve medicine literacy regarding antibiotics and self-medication.