Potential roles for pharmacists within youth mental health services: A qualitative exploration of staff views

Background

The prevalence and burden of mental illness among young people is rising, globally. Youth mental health services, such as headspace, offer young people access to multidisciplinary mental healthcare, specifically designed to address their needs. Pharmacists are medicines experts and possess a skillset increasingly being utilised in expanded areas of practice. There is potential for pharmacists to perform roles within youth mental health services, however sparse literature exploring pharmacist-delivered mental healthcare for young people exists.

Objective

To explore views of headspace staff on medication use among young people who use youth mental health services and pharmacists' potential roles within the headspace youth mental health service model.

Methods

Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff from one inner city headspace centre in Sydney, Australia. An interview guide was developed to capture participants' views on medication use among young people using youth mental health services and potential roles for pharmacists within this context. Reflexive thematic analysis was conducted to analyse the findings of this exploratory pilot study.

Results

Twelve staff members were interviewed, allowing for a range of multidisciplinary perspectives. Four themes were identified from the data: (i) gaps in medication-related care, (ii) potential roles for pharmacists at headspace (iii) collaboration between pharmacists and general practitioners, and (iv) a “one-stop shop”.

Conclusions

There are opportunities for pharmacists to improve young peoples' experiences using psychotropic medications through the provision of medication information to clients and caregivers. Pharmacists have a potential role to play in contributing to multidisciplinary case reviews but clarifying their specific roles when working alongside general practitioners is necessary. Uncertainty regarding the feasibility of pharmacist-led services within the headspace youth mental health service model and a lack of awareness regarding pharmacists' full scope of practice are barriers to pharmacists' potential roles within the headspace model.