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Between what is and what could be: a survey of pharmacists’ practices, attitudes, and beliefs in the provision of mental health care

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Abstract

Background

Pharmacists can have an essential role in providing care for patients with mental illness. There are gaps in the understanding of the current extent of pharmacists’ involvement in caring for patients with mental illness and their readiness to effectively provide this care.

Aim

To describe the current practices, attitudes, and beliefs of pharmacists in providing care to individuals with mental illness, and to assess factors that may impact these practices.

Method

An electronic questionnaire was emailed to pharmacists in Saskatchewan, Canada. Likert scale questions were utilized, and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis for free-text responses.

Results

The response rate was 9.1% (n = 146/1596). Fewer than 20% of respondents reported they were providing the clinical services listed to most or all patients with mental illness, except for providing basic medication education (61%). Almost all agreed it is a pharmacist’s role to provide all the services (61–98% for different services) and many were motivated to provide them (47–91%). The factors most frequently selected as having the greatest impact on service provision were insufficient knowledge (27%, n = 34) and competing priorities (19%, n = 24).

Conclusion

Consistent with international trends, Saskatchewan pharmacists reported low provision of clinical services for individuals with mental illness, despite a readiness to provide these services. There is an opportunity and a need to better utilize pharmacists internationally in the provision of mental health care.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the following people for their contributions to this research: Jeff Taylor, Jason Perepelkin, Melanie McLeod, Cara Taylor, Andrea Murphy, David Gardner, Sandra Miller, Myla Bulych, Caitlin Roy, Jacky Sui, Joan Ng, Elaine Lo, Jillian Reardon, Daniel Rainkie, Tulaya Katmeh, Joanna Procyshyn. We also acknowledge the Canadian Hub for Applied and Social Research at the University of Saskatchewan for assistance with statistical analysis for portions of this research project.

Funding

This research was partially funded by the Saskatchewan Centre for Patient-Oriented Research (No. Master’s Trainee Award) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (No. Graduate Student Scholarship). No industry sponsorship was received.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Information Support Pharmacist RxFiles, College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, and Clinical Pharmacist, Saskatchewan Health Authority, Saskatoon, Canada

    Amy Soubolsky

  2. College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

    Katelyn Halpape, Derek Jorgenson & Alfred J. Remillard

  3. Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

    Candace Necyk

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Correspondence to Amy Soubolsky.

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Conflicts of interest

For works not related to this manuscript, KH has received grant funding from the Health Canada Substance Use and Addictions Program, Indigenous Services Canada, and Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation. KH has received an honorarium for work as a chapter editor on the Clinical Handbook of Psychotropic Drugs. AS, DJ, AR, CN: none to declare.

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Soubolsky, A., Halpape, K., Jorgenson, D. et al. Between what is and what could be: a survey of pharmacists’ practices, attitudes, and beliefs in the provision of mental health care. Int J Clin Pharm 45, 1192–1202 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-023-01633-6

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