Health Promotion Beliefs and Practices Among Pharmacists
Health Promotion Beliefs and Practices Among Pharmacists
Objective: To examine the health promotion beliefs and practices of pharmacists.
Design: Cross-sectional mail survey.
Setting: Indiana.
Participants: Staff pharmacists.
Methods: Of the 1,440 registered Indiana pharmacies, one-half were selected using a systematic random process. Questionnaires were mailed to the 720 selected pharmacies asking one staff pharmacist to complete a 73-item questionnaire.
Results: A total of 552 pharmacists responded to the questionnaire, providing a 76.7% response rate. The majority of pharmacists believed that 10 of the 20 behaviors encouraged by national health objectives were very important for the average person. There was, however, considerably less agreement among pharmacists about the importance of the other 10 behaviors and practices. Pharmacists' involvement, preparation, and confidence in specific health promotion areas and activities were limited. A number of barriers were cited by respondents that could have hindered pharmacists' involvement in public health education activities. Despite these hindrances, pharmacists appear to be making strides toward providing health promotion education and activities.
Conclusion: Pharmacists are readily accessible sources of information concerning the importance of needed lifestyle factors on health. They can provide valuable education to patients about improvement of lifestyles as a routine component of pharmaceutical care.
The major causes of death in the United States today are chronic diseases. Behavioral factors -- particularly tobacco use, diet and activity patterns, alcohol consumption, sexual behavior, and avoidable injuries -- are among the most important contributors. The need for public health involvement in control of chronic diseases is reflected in the large number of Healthy People 2000 and Year 2010 health objectives that have been established by federal authorities. To meet this demand, public health professionals must become knowledgeable in the science and practice of chronic disease control.
It is well recognized that pharmacists act as health advisors to the general public, and they are acknowledged as highly credible sources of health information. Recently, pharmacists have become increasingly interested in broadening their roles beyond the customary product-oriented functions of dispensing and distributing medications.
In particular, the Pharmacy Practice Activity Classification Project (PPAC) lists a number of functions that reflect pharmacists' interest and involvement in public health education. The PPAC Project identified four major domains of pharmacist activities: (1) Ensuring Appropriate Therapy Outcomes, (2) Dispensing Medications and Devices, (3) Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, and (4) Health Systems Management. Within the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention domain, a paramount purpose was to support the service population in planning and delivery of services to individuals for the purpose of disease prevention, early detection of disease, detection of risk factors, and the promotion of healthy lifestyles. Specific activities include developing health education programming and assisting patients in making lifestyle changes to improve health outcomes. Before release of the 1998 PPAC report, a major core activity in the 1994 pharmaceutical educational goals, addressed by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, was to incorporate education in health promotion and disease prevention for pharmacists.
This recurring interest in the public health role of pharmacists as health educators is considerable. Partially because of these continuing reassessments and the ongoing changes in the health care system, professional pharmacy associations are increasingly interested in health promotion and disease prevention as a way to effectively position the profession in the 21st century. While evidence that people can do much to promote their own health is intensifying, the role of pharmacists in assisting patients is not well documented. Few systematic studies document participation in health education and disease prevention by this important health care provider group. In one of the few studies reported to date, Paluck et al. reported that there is considerable room for increasing pharmacist involvement in health education and disease prevention activities.
Implementing changes in health behaviors among community residents is challenging. O'Loughlin et al. have suggested that there is less interest in prevention activities targeting smoking, diet, and physical activity because the pharmacist may feel these areas are too far removed from the traditional role of dispensing medication. This lack of involvement in health promotion activities by pharmacists, however, may be the result of pharmacists not believing in the value of some of the behaviors they could promote or feeling confident in assisting their patients in behavioral change. Personal beliefs concerning both the validity of health promotion and the pharmacist's ability to influence patient behavior may affect how much effort a pharmacist spends on health promotion.
Objective: To examine the health promotion beliefs and practices of pharmacists.
Design: Cross-sectional mail survey.
Setting: Indiana.
Participants: Staff pharmacists.
Methods: Of the 1,440 registered Indiana pharmacies, one-half were selected using a systematic random process. Questionnaires were mailed to the 720 selected pharmacies asking one staff pharmacist to complete a 73-item questionnaire.
Results: A total of 552 pharmacists responded to the questionnaire, providing a 76.7% response rate. The majority of pharmacists believed that 10 of the 20 behaviors encouraged by national health objectives were very important for the average person. There was, however, considerably less agreement among pharmacists about the importance of the other 10 behaviors and practices. Pharmacists' involvement, preparation, and confidence in specific health promotion areas and activities were limited. A number of barriers were cited by respondents that could have hindered pharmacists' involvement in public health education activities. Despite these hindrances, pharmacists appear to be making strides toward providing health promotion education and activities.
Conclusion: Pharmacists are readily accessible sources of information concerning the importance of needed lifestyle factors on health. They can provide valuable education to patients about improvement of lifestyles as a routine component of pharmaceutical care.
The major causes of death in the United States today are chronic diseases. Behavioral factors -- particularly tobacco use, diet and activity patterns, alcohol consumption, sexual behavior, and avoidable injuries -- are among the most important contributors. The need for public health involvement in control of chronic diseases is reflected in the large number of Healthy People 2000 and Year 2010 health objectives that have been established by federal authorities. To meet this demand, public health professionals must become knowledgeable in the science and practice of chronic disease control.
It is well recognized that pharmacists act as health advisors to the general public, and they are acknowledged as highly credible sources of health information. Recently, pharmacists have become increasingly interested in broadening their roles beyond the customary product-oriented functions of dispensing and distributing medications.
In particular, the Pharmacy Practice Activity Classification Project (PPAC) lists a number of functions that reflect pharmacists' interest and involvement in public health education. The PPAC Project identified four major domains of pharmacist activities: (1) Ensuring Appropriate Therapy Outcomes, (2) Dispensing Medications and Devices, (3) Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, and (4) Health Systems Management. Within the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention domain, a paramount purpose was to support the service population in planning and delivery of services to individuals for the purpose of disease prevention, early detection of disease, detection of risk factors, and the promotion of healthy lifestyles. Specific activities include developing health education programming and assisting patients in making lifestyle changes to improve health outcomes. Before release of the 1998 PPAC report, a major core activity in the 1994 pharmaceutical educational goals, addressed by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, was to incorporate education in health promotion and disease prevention for pharmacists.
This recurring interest in the public health role of pharmacists as health educators is considerable. Partially because of these continuing reassessments and the ongoing changes in the health care system, professional pharmacy associations are increasingly interested in health promotion and disease prevention as a way to effectively position the profession in the 21st century. While evidence that people can do much to promote their own health is intensifying, the role of pharmacists in assisting patients is not well documented. Few systematic studies document participation in health education and disease prevention by this important health care provider group. In one of the few studies reported to date, Paluck et al. reported that there is considerable room for increasing pharmacist involvement in health education and disease prevention activities.
Implementing changes in health behaviors among community residents is challenging. O'Loughlin et al. have suggested that there is less interest in prevention activities targeting smoking, diet, and physical activity because the pharmacist may feel these areas are too far removed from the traditional role of dispensing medication. This lack of involvement in health promotion activities by pharmacists, however, may be the result of pharmacists not believing in the value of some of the behaviors they could promote or feeling confident in assisting their patients in behavioral change. Personal beliefs concerning both the validity of health promotion and the pharmacist's ability to influence patient behavior may affect how much effort a pharmacist spends on health promotion.
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