RESUMEN
Providing palliative care to patients with life-threatening illnesses requires multidisciplinary efforts from different healthcare providers. Identifying the attitude, knowledge, and intentions of pharmacists to provide this service in Saudi Arabia is essential. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the palliative care knowledge, intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control of pharmacists and what factors predict their intentions. Cross-sectional questionnaires based on the theory of planned behaviour were distributed to pharmacists in hospitals and community pharmacies. They included items that measured palliative care knowledge, attitudes, intentions, subjective norms, and the perceived behavioural control of pharmacists and identified other sociodemographic and pharmacy-practice-related items. In total, 131 pharmacists completed the questionnaires, showing an average score on palliative knowledge (8.82 ± 1.96; range: 1-14), strong intentions (5.84 ± 1.41; range: 1-7), positive attitudes (6.10 ± 1.47; range: 1-7), positive subjective norms (5.31 ± 1.32; range: 1-7), and positive perceived behavioural control (5.04 ± 1.21; range: 1-7). Having completed a pharmacy residency program, working longer hours per week, having a more positive attitude, and perceived stronger subjective norms were significantly associated with a strong intention to provide palliative care services. Therefore, enabling and motivating pharmacists to complete pharmacy residency programs and improve their attitudes could increase their intentions to provide these services.
RESUMEN
Medication therapy management (MTM) is provided by pharmacists and other healthcare providers, improves patient health status, and increases the collaboration of MTM providers with others. However, little is known about pharmacists' intention to provide MTM services in Saudi Arabia. This study aimed to predict the pharmacists' willingness in this nation to commit to providing MTM services there. This study used a cross-sectional questionnaire based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). The survey was distributed to 149 pharmacists working in hospital and community pharmacies. It included items measuring pharmacist attitudes, intentions, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, knowledge about the provision of MTM services, and other sociodemographic and pharmacy practice-related items. The pharmacists had a positive attitude towards MTM services (mean = 6.15 ± 1.12) and strong intention (mean = 6.09 ± 1.15), highly perceived social pressure to provide those services (mean = 5.42 ± 1.03), strongly perceived control over providing those services (mean = 4.98 ± 1.05), and had good MTM knowledge (mean = 5.03 ± 1.00). Pharmacists who completed a pharmacy residency programme and had good knowledge of MTM services and a positive attitude towards them usually strongly intended to provide MTM services. Thus, encouraging pharmacists to complete pharmacy residency programmes and educating them about the importance and provision of MTM services will enhance their motivation to provide them.