Abstract:
Objectives: To evaluate attitude of community
pharmacists towards health education, promotion and
screening, assess the extent of their actual involvement in
such activities and identify barriers for their provision. Set tings: Community pharmacies in Khartoum State. Method: A
structured, self-administered, piloted questionnaire was
distributed to the pharmacists in charge of 274, randomly
selected, community pharmacies. The questionnaire was
divided into 5 domains; demographic characteristics, atti tude, involvement, screening and barriers. Attitude respon ses were measured by a 5-point Likert-type scale.
Descriptive statistical analysis was used. Main outcome
measures: willingness of community pharmacist to partici pate in public health activities, their current involvement and
the barriers they encounter. Results: Response rate was
67 %. The majority of community pharmacists ([70 %) is
willing to take part in public health services and consented to
be trained on behavioral modification for provision of more
effective health education and promotion services to the
public. Currently a high proportion of community pharma cists are providing health information on healthy diet
(4.38 ± 0.76, 89.1 %), obesity and weight reduction
(4.15 ± 0.78, 78.1 %), exercise (3.93 ± 0.83, 76.6 %),
smoking cessation (4.15 ± 1.01, 76.1 %) and contraception
methods and medicines (3.98 ± 0.95, 73.4 %). However,
their involvement is achieved through the process of tradi tional advising during prescription filling. Blood pressure
measurement (89.1 %) and blood glucose testing (85.9 %)
were highly ranked by community pharmacists as acceptable
and can be easily handled. Lack of time, training, official
recognition for pharmacists’ health promotion activities, the
concept of team work with other health care professionals
topped the barriers. Conclusion: The surveyed community
pharmacists favor the provision of public health activities
following appropriate training and reduction or removal of
barriers. Further interventional studies regarding application
of a health education and health promotion model to selected
populations in community pharmacies are recommended.
