title: Building intentions with the theory of planned behaviour: a qualitative assessment of salient beliefs about pharmacy value added services in Malaysia.
abstract: To improve pharmaceutical care delivery in Malaysia, the Ministry of Health (MOH) had introduced the concept of value added services (VAS). Despite its reported convenience and advantages, VAS utilization rate is low in the country. The study aims to explore patients' understanding, beliefs and expectations towards VAS in Malaysia using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) as the theoretical model.
  
  
  
  A qualitative methodology was used whereby face-to-face interviews were conducted with 12 patients who collected partial medicine supplies from government pharmacies. Participants were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling method in the state of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Interviews were audio-recorded. Verbatim transcription and thematic content analysis were performed on the data.
  
  
  
  Thematic content analysis yielded five major themes: (i) attitudes towards using VAS, (ii) subjective norms, (iii) perceived behavioural control, (iv) lack of knowledge and understanding of VAS and (v) expectations towards VAS.
  
  
  
  The interviews explored and informed new information about salient beliefs towards pharmacy VAS. The findings suggest that VAS is still in its infancy and a more robust and effective advertising and marketing campaign is needed to boost the adoption rate. Behavioural attitudes, subjective norms and perceived control elements were discussed and serve as important variables of interest in future study. Expectations towards VAS serve as an important guideline to further improve patient-oriented services.
authors.affiliation: Pharmaceutical Services Division (Pharmacy Practice & Development), Negeri Sembilan State Health Department, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Christine Liang Hoay
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Social & Administrative Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mohamed Azmi
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hassali
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Social & Administrative Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Fahad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Saleem
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Social & Administrative Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Asrul Akmal
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Shafie
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Hisham
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aljadhay
authors.affiliation: Putra Business School, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Vincent B Y
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Gan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D010593:Pharmaceutical Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D058996:Quality Improvement
keywords: Malaysia; pharmacy value added services; qualitative; theory of planned behaviour