Development of a Questionnaire to Measure Public Perceptions of the Role of Community Pharmacy in Public Health (PubPharmQ)

Delyth H James; Rose Rapado; Sarah L Brown; Joanne Kember; Karen L Hodson; Amie-Louise Prior

doi:10.3390/pharmacy11050141

Development of a Questionnaire to Measure Public Perceptions of the Role of Community Pharmacy in Public Health (PubPharmQ)

Pharmacy (Basel). 2023 Sep 8;11(5):141. doi: 10.3390/pharmacy11050141.

Authors

Delyth H James¹, Rose Rapado¹, Sarah L Brown¹, Joanne Kember², Karen L Hodson³, Amie-Louise Prior¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Applied Psychology, Cardiff School of Sport & Health Sciences, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Llandaff Campus, Western Avenue, Cardiff CF5 2YB, Wales, UK.
² Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Bangor LL57 2PW, Wales, UK.
³ School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cardiff University, Redwood Building, King Edward VIIth Avenue, Cardiff CF103NB, Wales, UK.

Abstract

Background: Community pharmacies are well placed to provide public-health interventions within primary care settings. This study aimed to establish the general public's perceptions of community pharmacy-based public-health services in the UK by designing a structured questionnaire to assess the barriers and facilitators to optimizing this role.

Methods: A standardized questionnaire was developed informed by the literature, additional semi-structured interviews, and synthesis of key findings with the authors' previous research based on data generated from eight focus groups. The original 42-item questionnaire was distributed online from May to June 2021 via social media platforms to capture the views of non-regular pharmacy users. Following exploratory factor analysis, and Cronbach's alpha analysis, total Likert scale response scores were calculated.

Results: Of the 306 responders, 76.8% were female with a mean age of 34.5 years (SD = 15.09). The most prevalent pharmacy use reported was 1-2 times a year (28.1%). Exploratory factor analysis revealed four scales: Expertise, Role in Public Health, Privacy, and Relationship (18 items) with acceptable internal consistency and good face and content validity. Awareness of well-established pharmacy services was high; however, responders demonstrated poor awareness of public-health-related services and low recognition of pharmacy expertise for this role. A lack of an established relationship with community pharmacies and privacy concerns were also perceived barriers.

Conclusions: Based on these findings, considerable effort is needed to increase public awareness and address these concerns if strategic plans to utilize community pharmacy in the delivery of public-health policy are to be successful. The PubPharmQ provides a novel, structured questionnaire to measure the public's perceptions of community pharmacy's role in public health.

Keywords: community pharmacy; community pharmacy roles; pharmacy services; public attitudes; public health; public perceptions; questionnaire; service-user perspectives.

Grants and funding

There was no funding for this research. The work was undertaken as part of a BSc Psychology (Hons) and MSc Health Psychology (R.R.—Cardiff Metropolitan University) and MSc in Pharmacy Clinical Practice (J.K.—Cardiff University) where the respective students were self-funded.