Pharmacists’ Knowledge and Perceptions of Health Literacy

Background: Health literacy is defined as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions. A review of literature revealed few studies that examined pharmacist’s knowledge of health literacy. Met...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of pharmacy practice 2023-06, Vol.36 (3), p.620-627
Main Authors: Murphy, Pilar Z., Jester, Ashton P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitude of Health Personnel
Community Pharmacy Services
Humans
Literacy
Pharmaceutical Services
Pharmacies
Pharmacists
Pharmacy
Professional Role
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:Background: Health literacy is defined as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions. A review of literature revealed few studies that examined pharmacist’s knowledge of health literacy. Methods: The Pharmacist Professional Health Literacy Survey was distributed to a convenience sampling of community pharmacists in medically underserved counties of Southwest Georgia. Results: Of 75 pharmacists contacted, 39 completed the survey and were used in the evaluation. Most respondents reported no health literacy training and had never assessed health literacy with a validated questionnaire. More than half of the participants cited lack of knowledge about low health literacy as a major barrier to implementing health literacy screening for their patients. Time and cost were identified as major barriers to participating in health literacy training programs. Conclusion: Most pharmacists from this area had little exposure to evaluating health literacy. Pharmacy education postgraduate programs and continuing education training programs around this topic will heighten health literacy knowledge for the pharmacy profession. There is a need for a quick, easy to use, and effective tool for pharmacists to recognize and assess health literacy in patients.
ISSN:0897-1900
1531-1937
DOI:10.1177/08971900221074958