Attitudes of pharmacists toward mental illness and providing pharmaceutical care to the mentally ill.
BACKGROUND
Few studies have examined the attitudes of pharmacists toward mental illness.


OBJECTIVE
To study the attitudes of Alabama pharmacists toward both mental illness and the providing of pharmaceutical care to mentally ill patients.


METHODS
The survey used in this project was composed of 3 sections. Section 1 collected demographic information, section 2 asked 11 Likert-type questions concerning attitudes toward mental illness, and section 3 asked about attitudes toward providing pharmaceutical care to mentally ill patients. The surveys were distributed to pharmacists attending 3 school-sponsored continuing education programs.


RESULTS
One hundred eighty-seven pharmacists participated in the survey. The vast majority (>90%) of participants disagreed or strongly disagreed with statements that mentally ill patients are easily recognizable, unintelligent, and do not care how they look. Approximately 30-50% of participants expressed being "more" or "much more" confident, comfortable, interested, and likely to perform pharmaceutical care activities for mentally ill patients relative to medically ill patients, while only approximately 5-20% of participants expressed being "less" or "much less" so. Several demographic factors, including gender, age, and years in practice, were associated with attitudes toward providing pharmaceutical care to mentally ill patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Pharmacists expressed generally positive attitudes toward both mental illness and the providing of pharmaceutical care to mentally ill patients.
McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Samford University, Birmingham, AL 35229-7027, USA. mecates@samford.edu
Marshall E
ME
Cates
Amber R
AR
Burton
Thomas W
TW
Woolley
D000328:Adult; D000407:Alabama; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010593:Pharmaceutical Services; D010595:Pharmacists