Psychological determinants of the intention to educate patients about benzodiazepines

Abstract

Objective General practitioners and pharmacists do not properly educate their patients about the disadvantages of benzodiazepines. In order to increase and improve education, this study will investigate which psychological factors (i.e., beliefs, outcome expectation, social norm and self-efficacy) predict the intention to educate. Methods A cross-sectional survey study was conducted in which 339 general practitioners and 149 pharmacists in the Netherlands completed a questionnaire. Results The Results show that the above-mentioned factors play an important role in forming intentions to educate. However, differences exist between general practitioners and pharmacists. Conclusion General practitioners and pharmacists intend to educate in cases where they think that benzodiazepines have well-defined disadvantages, when the education they undertake leads to success, when they feel pressure to educate from their surroundings and when they are capable of educating. Implications for practice These findings contribute to a better understanding of patient education and are of great value in developing new interventions to improve education.

Development of a Simple 12-Item Theory-Based Instrument to Assess the Impact of Continuing Professional Development on Clinical Behavioral Intentions

“…We retrieved the 52 studies from the original systematic review [8] reporting good psychometric properties and identified 20 new studies from the updated searches covering October 30, 2007 to October 31, 2010 [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32], [33]. Our review included 72 studies [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32], [33], [34], [35], [36], [37], [38], [39], [40], [41], [42], [43], [44], [45], [46], [47], [48], [49], [50], [51], [52], [53], [54], [55], [56]…”

“…Our review included 72 studies [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32], [33], [34], [35], [36], [37], [38], [39], [40], [41], [42], [43], [44], [45], [46], [47], [48], [49], [50], [51], [52], [53], [54], [55], [56], [57], [58], [59], [60], [61], [62], [63], [64], [65], [66], [67], [68], [69], [70], [71], [72], [73], [74], [75], [76], [77], [78], [79], [80], …”

“…We were able to get access to published versions or copies of 40 instruments [14], [15], [20], [21], [22], [23], [25], [26], [30], [31], [35], [37], [38], [41], [44], [45], [47], [48], [49], [51], [52], [53], [54], [55], [56], [57], [58], [60], [61], [64], [65], [67], [71], [73], [74], [76], [79], [83], [84], [85]. Authors of the 32 remaining tools [16], [17], [18], [19], [24], [27], [28], [29], [32], [33], [34], [36], [39], [40], [42], [43], [46], [50], [59], [62], [63], [66], [68], [69], [70], [72]…”

Community pharmacists’ role in benzodiazepine supply in Ireland: a questionnaire of pharmacists’ views and experiences

“…Studies involving community pharmacists have consistently reported higher counselling frequencies to patients receiving new prescriptions compared with those receiving long‐standing prescriptions [46]. Pharmacists have previously demonstrated low levels of both intended and actual patient education about benzodiazepine use [47]. Also concerning are patients' previous reports of receiving insufficient information on benzodiazepines[48,49] and varying engagement with pharmacists when having benzodiazepines dispensed [49]…”

“…This is important because while patients have previously shown low intentions[50] and a lack of willingness[51,52] to discontinue long‐term benzodiazepine use, it indicates that pharmacists may be able to raise the subject in a sizeable proportion of cases without an overtly negative reaction, and many patients may, in fact, be willing to heed their advice. This could help to dispel negative preconceptions that pharmacists may have regarding patients' responses to the suggestion of discontinuation, which is of importance as pharmacists have shown greater intentions to educate patients about benzodiazepines when anticipating positive outcomes [47]…”