Community pharmacists' attitudes towards research

Abstract

Objectives — To investigate community pharmacists' perception of Pharmacy Practice research and to identify perceived barriers preventing their participation in research. Method — A self‐completed postal questionnaire, including 29 attitudinal statements was analysed using factor analysis. Setting — The study group comprised pharmacists working in all 651 community pharmacies in East London and Essex. Key findings — The response rate was 60 per cent. Factor analysis revealed five factors comprising correlated statements. The majority of respondents perceived community based practice research to be important and relevant to them and to the future development of community pharmacy. Fifty‐four per cent agreed that they were prepared to participate in practice research, although 66 per cent of respondents felt their daily activities precluded this. Payment for a research related activity was a major issue impacting on their likely participation, with 72 per cent of pharmacists agreeing that they would only participate if paid to do so. Pharmacists' employment status, ie, whether employee or proprietor, was also associated with willingness and ability to undertake research. Conclusion — Community pharmacists have a positive attitude towards practice research, and under the appropriate circumstances many would be prepared to participate in research.

Building hospital pharmacy practice research capacity in Qatar: a cross-sectional survey of hospital pharmacists

“…While Knapp et al [5] reported a project growth in pharmacy education and research in faculties of pharmacy in the United States (US), few studies have reported the perspectives of practising pharmacists. Surveys of community pharmacists in the UK and pharmacists in Australia identified that respondents perceived practice research to be important and relevant but were less likely to participate themselves with confidence, lack of payment, time and opportunities cited as major barriers [6,7]. Similar findings have been reported for other health professional groupings of social workers [8,9], allied health professionals [10], speech-language pathology practitioners [11], physicians and nurses [12,13].…”

“…• key published literature on research related interests, attitudes and skills of health professionals [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. • The Roberts' Review, a United Kingdom review of the supply of people within science, technology and engineering, which defines competencies around different levels of research participation [16].…”

Pharmacists’ Attitudes Towards Pharmacy Practice Research: A Review

“…Studies during this period indicated increased awareness and positive attitude towards research among pharmacists, mostly in the community setting (Rosenbloom et al 2000;Simpson et al 2001;Saini et al 2006;Armour et al 2007;Peterson et al 2009). Future development of community pharmacy practice and new practice models could be among the motivational factors for this trend.…”

“…There is evidence that these research networks will increasingly augment pharmacists' active participation in practice-based research (Carr et al 2011;Hébert et al 2013;Peterson et al 2009;Rosenbloom et al 2000). Furthermore, studies have investigated pharmacists' attitudes and willingness to participate in PBRNs (Carr et al 2011;Hébert et al 2013;Rosenbloom et al 2000) and others have discussed the importance of PBRNs (Peterson et al 2009;Rosenbloom et al 2000;Simpson et al 2001).…”

“…Although a large proportion of pharmacists in various settings (hospital, community, industry) had expressed interest in pharmacy practice and health-related research, in reality studies have reported pharmacists' reluctance and limited involvement in research activities (Armour et al 2007;Bond 2006;Ellerby et al 1993;Liddell 1996;Peterson et al 2009;Rosenbloom et al 2000;Saini et al 2006). The research is not regarded as a mandate for pharmacists or a requirement for preregistration training in many countries, and this partly contributes to pharmacists' limited involvement.…”