title: Views of the Scottish general public on community pharmacy weight management services: international implications.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Obesity has reached pandemic levels, with more than 1.5 billion adults being affected worldwide. In Scotland two-thirds of men and more than half of women are either overweight or obese, placing Scotland overall third behind the United States of America and Mexico. All community pharmacies in Scotland are contracted to provide public health services such as smoking cessation and there is increasing interest in their contribution to weight management. Researching this area in Scotland may provide valuable information to facilitate the development of community pharmacy services in other parts of the UK and internationally.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the views of the Scottish general public on the provision of weight management services via community pharmacies.
  
  
  METHODS
  General public in Scotland.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional postal questionnaire survey of 6,000 randomly selected members of the Scottish general public aged 18 years and over.
  
  
  METHODS
  Views on community pharmacy led weight management services.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Questionnaires were returned by 20.6% (n = 1,236). Over half 60.1% (n = 751) agreed or strongly agreed that they had easy access to pharmacy services in general and around one-third agreed (35%; n = 438) that it was more convenient to obtain weight management advice from a pharmacist than it is to make an appointment with a GP. Most respondents however lacked awareness of the types of health services available through community pharmacy (13.2%; n = 162) and would not feel comfortable speaking to a pharmacist or medicines counter assistant about weight related issues (25%; n = 320). Concerns over privacy (47.3%; n = 592) and perceived lack of pharmacists' specialist knowledge (open comments) were identified as potential barriers to service uptake by the general public.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, respondents appear to be receptive to the idea of accessing weight management services through community pharmacy but a perceived lack of privacy, poor knowledge of pharmacists' skill level and of public health services available to them may explain the reluctance in the uptake of such services to date. The general public's views expressed in this study may help to shape future community pharmacy led weight management service provision.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Robert Gordon University, Schoolhill, AB10 1FR, Aberdeen, UK. a.e.weidmann@rgu.ac.uk
authors.forename: Anita Elaine
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Weidmann
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: Gwen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hansford
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bermano
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stewart
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services; D003219:Confidentiality; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D010465:Perception; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011639:Public Opinion; D012606:Scotland / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015431:Weight Loss; D055815:Young Adult