{"title":"Pharmacist's knowledge and attitude towards self-medication practices: a cross-sectional study for the development and validation of questionnaire.","authors":"Nahid Ansari, Puneeta Ajmera, Abhishek Dadhich","doi":"10.1093/ijpp/riae027","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Pharmacists play an essential role in self-medication by providing guidance and counselling services to consumers; hence, it is necessary to assess pharmacists' awareness and attitude towards self-medication to promote responsible self-medication practices.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To develop a valid and reliable instrument to assess the knowledge and attitude of pharmacists towards self-medication practices and their role in promoting responsible self-medication.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A questionnaire was developed in English after a relevant literature review, which was further administered to a sample of 105 community pharmacists. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed using the Karl-Pearson correlation and Cronbach alpha statistics. Content validity was evaluated by subject experts. The dimensional structure of items was assessed through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).</p><p><strong>Key findings: </strong>The final questionnaire comprises 27 items for knowledge and attitude with a Karl-Pearson correlation value of 0.896 and Cronbach alpha value of 0.814 (24 items), indicating good internal consistency and reproducibility. Factor analysis identified five factors: namely, (i) attitude towards providing guidance and advice to consumers to promote responsible SMP, (ii) attitude towards shared responsibility for promoting rational medicine supply and use, (iii) knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of SMP, (iv) knowledge of the definition of self-medication, (v) attitude towards professional competency of a pharmacist as a healthcare provider. CFA results demonstrate good model fit with the value of Chi-square (184.56), CFI (0.937), RMSEA (0.054), and SRMR (0.075). Model validity measures ensure satisfactory validity and reliability.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The findings demonstrate a valid and reliable measure for assessing the knowledge and attitude of pharmacists towards self-medication.</p>","PeriodicalId":14284,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Pharmacy Practice","volume":" ","pages":"294-302"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Pharmacy Practice","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpp/riae027","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PHARMACOLOGY & PHARMACY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Pharmacists play an essential role in self-medication by providing guidance and counselling services to consumers; hence, it is necessary to assess pharmacists' awareness and attitude towards self-medication to promote responsible self-medication practices.
Objective: To develop a valid and reliable instrument to assess the knowledge and attitude of pharmacists towards self-medication practices and their role in promoting responsible self-medication.
Method: A questionnaire was developed in English after a relevant literature review, which was further administered to a sample of 105 community pharmacists. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed using the Karl-Pearson correlation and Cronbach alpha statistics. Content validity was evaluated by subject experts. The dimensional structure of items was assessed through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).
Key findings: The final questionnaire comprises 27 items for knowledge and attitude with a Karl-Pearson correlation value of 0.896 and Cronbach alpha value of 0.814 (24 items), indicating good internal consistency and reproducibility. Factor analysis identified five factors: namely, (i) attitude towards providing guidance and advice to consumers to promote responsible SMP, (ii) attitude towards shared responsibility for promoting rational medicine supply and use, (iii) knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of SMP, (iv) knowledge of the definition of self-medication, (v) attitude towards professional competency of a pharmacist as a healthcare provider. CFA results demonstrate good model fit with the value of Chi-square (184.56), CFI (0.937), RMSEA (0.054), and SRMR (0.075). Model validity measures ensure satisfactory validity and reliability.
Conclusions: The findings demonstrate a valid and reliable measure for assessing the knowledge and attitude of pharmacists towards self-medication.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal of Pharmacy Practice (IJPP) is a Medline-indexed, peer reviewed, international journal. It is one of the leading journals publishing health services research in the context of pharmacy, pharmaceutical care, medicines and medicines management. Regular sections in the journal include, editorials, literature reviews, original research, personal opinion and short communications. Topics covered include: medicines utilisation, medicine management, medicines distribution, supply and administration, pharmaceutical services, professional and patient/lay perspectives, public health (including, e.g. health promotion, needs assessment, health protection) evidence based practice, pharmacy education. Methods include both evaluative and exploratory work including, randomised controlled trials, surveys, epidemiological approaches, case studies, observational studies, and qualitative methods such as interviews and focus groups. Application of methods drawn from other disciplines e.g. psychology, health economics, morbidity are especially welcome as are developments of new methodologies.