Perceived roles and barriers in caring for the people who are homeless: a survey of UK community pharmacists

Vibhu Paudyal, Kathrine Gibson Smith, Katie MacLure, Katrina Forbes-McKay, Andrew Radley, Derek Stewart

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)
406 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background Community pharmacists can be an accessible source for advice and support for the people who are homeless, given their utilisation of a variety of currently available services such as dispensing of medicines, drugs and alcohol services. Objective To determine community pharmacists' training, experiences and behavioural determinants in counselling and management of homeless population. Setting UK community pharmacies. Method A questionnaire based on literature and theoretical domains framework was mailed to randomly sampled community pharmacies in England and Scotland (n = 2000). Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Main outcome measures Pharmacists' perspectives, pharmacists' training, pharmacists' experiences and behavioural determinants. Results A total of 321 responses (RR 16.1%) were received. Respondents indicated lack of knowledge, skills, intentions as well as contextual factors such as lack of guidelines impacted on their counselling and management of homeless patients. Less than a third (n = 101, 32.2%) indicated that they knew where to refer a homeless patient for social support. Broaching the subject of homelessness was outside their comfort zone (n = 139, 44.3%). Only four (1.2%) respondents could correctly answer all knowledge assessment questions. Conclusions Community pharmacist identified lack of education, training opportunities and guidelines in counselling and management of homeless patients. Targeting community pharmacists' knowledge, skills and intention to provide care to the homeless patients may enable addressing health inequality through community pharmacy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)215-227
Number of pages13
Journal International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
Volume41
Issue number1
Early online date18 Jan 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2019

Keywords

  • Community pharmacist
  • Community pharmacy
  • Counselling
  • Homeless
  • Signposting
  • United Kingdom

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pharmacy
  • Toxicology
  • Pharmacology
  • Pharmaceutical Science
  • Pharmacology (medical)

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