title: Examination of psychosocial predictors of Virginia pharmacists' intention to utilize a prescription drug monitoring program using the theory of planned behavior.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Little is known about the main drivers of pharmacists' intention to utilize prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) when making care decisions and the actual contribution of these factors in explaining intention and behavior.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study examined what theory of planned behavior (TPB) model constructs (i.e., attitude, subjective norm [SN], perceived behavioral control [PBC]), past utilization behavior (PUB) and perceived moral obligation (PMO) were significant predictors of Virginia community pharmacists' intention to utilize a PDMP.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cover letter with a link to a 28-item online survey was e-mailed to 600 members of the Virginia Pharmacists Association. Multiple regression analyses were used to determine the association between pharmacists' intention to utilize the PDMP database and attitude, SN, PBC, PUB and PMO.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ninety-seven usable responses were received, for a response rate of 16.2%. A majority of the respondents were Caucasian (96.4%), female (50.5%), working in independent community pharmacies (60.4%) with an average age of 49.5 ± 13.4 years. Overall, pharmacists intended to utilize a PDMP (mean = 5.3 ± 4.6; possible range: -9 to 9), had a positive attitude toward utilizing PDMP (mean = 6.3 ± 5.3; possible range: -12 to 12), perceived that others wanted them to utilize a PDMP (SN score = 3.7 ± 2.4; range: -6 to 6), and believed that they had control over utilization behavior (PBC score = 4.5 ± 4.0; range: -9 to 9). Attitude (β = 0.723, P < 0.001), SN (β = 0.230, P = 0.014) and PBC (β = -0.215, P = 0.026) significantly predicted pharmacists' intent, accounting for 56.7% of the variance in intention to utilize the PDMP database (P < 0.001). The addition of PMO (P < 0.001) significantly contributed to explaining the variance in intention but PUB did not.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Members of the Virginia Pharmacists Association who responded to the survey showed a strong positive intent to utilize PDMP database. Pharmacists' attitudes, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and perceived moral obligation were significant predictors of intention but past utilization behavior was not. The TPB is a useful theoretical framework when predicting PDMP utilization behavior of community pharmacists, accounting for 56.7% of the variance in intention.
authors: Department of Pharmaceutical, Social and Administrative Sciences, Appalachian College of Pharmacy, 1060 Dragon Road, Oakwood, VA 24631, USA. Electronic address: pgavaza@gmail.com.
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: Gavaza
authors: Department of Clinical Sciences and Administration, College of Pharmacy, University of Houston, 1441 Moursund St., Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors: Marc
authors: M
authors: Fleming
authors: Health Outcomes and Pharmacy Practice Division, College of Pharmacy, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station A1900 Austin, TX, USA.
authors: Jamie C
authors: JC
authors: Barner
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001519:Behavior; D061891:Controlled Substances; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014768:Virginia
chemical_list: D061891:Controlled Substances
keywords: Controlled substances abuse; Pharmacy; Prescription drug monitoring programs; Social cognitive theory; Theory of planned behavior; Virginia