Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

A survey of community pharmacists’ attitudes towards mental illness

A survey of community pharmacists’ attitudes towards mental illness Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to compare the pharmacy services provided to people taking psychotropic and cardiovascular medications and examine the association between pharmacists’ attitudes towards mental illness and provision of pharmacy services. The paper also considers pharmacists’ opinions of the pharmaceutical care needs of people with mental illness including their physical health. Design/methodology/approach– A survey instrument was sent by facsimile to a random sample of community pharmacists in England and Wales. Findings– Community pharmacists had generally positive attitudes towards mental illness but provided significantly fewer pharmacy services (and were less comfortable providing them) to patients taking psychotropic medications than to patients taking cardiovascular medications. Awareness of the higher prevalence of physical health conditions among people with severe mental illness was not high. Provision of pharmacy services was associated with pharmacists’ attitudes towards mental illness and comfort providing pharmaceutical care. Other factors that may contribute to these disparities in service provision are discussed. Practical implications– The study findings indicate the need for enhanced mental health education for pharmacy students to improve attitudes, knowledge and confidence in mental health and the inclusion of mental health in pharmacy advanced services. Originality/value– Few studies have examined the relationship between attitudes towards mental illness and provision of pharmacy services. This was the first study to examine the attitudes of British community pharmacists towards mental illness. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Public Mental Health Emerald Publishing

A survey of community pharmacists’ attitudes towards mental illness

Journal of Public Mental Health , Volume 15 (2): 10 – Jun 20, 2016

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/a-survey-of-community-pharmacists-attitudes-towards-mental-illness-9epYjoWruc

References (33)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
1746-5729
DOI
10.1108/JPMH-12-2015-0052
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to compare the pharmacy services provided to people taking psychotropic and cardiovascular medications and examine the association between pharmacists’ attitudes towards mental illness and provision of pharmacy services. The paper also considers pharmacists’ opinions of the pharmaceutical care needs of people with mental illness including their physical health. Design/methodology/approach– A survey instrument was sent by facsimile to a random sample of community pharmacists in England and Wales. Findings– Community pharmacists had generally positive attitudes towards mental illness but provided significantly fewer pharmacy services (and were less comfortable providing them) to patients taking psychotropic medications than to patients taking cardiovascular medications. Awareness of the higher prevalence of physical health conditions among people with severe mental illness was not high. Provision of pharmacy services was associated with pharmacists’ attitudes towards mental illness and comfort providing pharmaceutical care. Other factors that may contribute to these disparities in service provision are discussed. Practical implications– The study findings indicate the need for enhanced mental health education for pharmacy students to improve attitudes, knowledge and confidence in mental health and the inclusion of mental health in pharmacy advanced services. Originality/value– Few studies have examined the relationship between attitudes towards mental illness and provision of pharmacy services. This was the first study to examine the attitudes of British community pharmacists towards mental illness.

Journal

Journal of Public Mental HealthEmerald Publishing

Published: Jun 20, 2016

There are no references for this article.