<![CDATA[Background: Non-prescription antibiotic use is an important driver of inappropriate antimicrobial exposure and may accelerate antimicrobial resistance. In rural settings, community knowledge, medicine availability, and socioeconomic barriers to professional care can interact to shape antibiotic-use decisions. Purpose: To examine the associations of antibiotic knowledge, antibiotic-access score category, and socioeconomic status with non-prescription antibiotic use among adults in Balasari Village, Bombana Regency, Indonesia. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study included 71 adults selected by simple random sampling from an eligible village sampling frame of 87 residents. Structured questionnaires assessed non-prescription antibiotic use, knowledge, access, and socioeconomic status. Sparse 3 x 2 tables were analyzed using two-sided Fisher-Freeman-Halton exact tests, with Cramer's V and 95% confidence intervals as effect-size measures. Results: Fifty-three participants (74.6%; 95% CI 63.4%-83.3%) reported non-prescription antibiotic use. Knowledge (p < .001; V = .578, 95% CI .330-.801), antibiotic-access score category (p < .001; V = .551, 95% CI .301-.772), and socioeconomic status (p < .001; V = .555, 95% CI .306-.777) were significantly associated with use. Conclusion: Non-prescription antibiotic use was common and showed substantial unadjusted associations with the three examined factors. Community nursing strategies should combine antibiotic literacy, timely access to professional care, pharmacy engagement, and strengthened antimicrobial-stewardship regulation. Causal and independent effects cannot be inferred from this cross-sectional study.]]>
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