Provision
of medication information may improve adherence and prevent medication
related problems. People with mental health disorders commonly
receive less medication counselling from pharmacists than people
with other common long term and persistent disorders.
Objective: The objective of this study was to compare and contrast
barriers pharmacy students perceive toward providing medication
counselling for people with mental health disorders in Australia,
Belgium, Estonia, Finland, India and Latvia.
Methods: Barriers identified by third-year pharmacy students as
part of the International Pharmacy Students’ Health Survey were
content analysed using a directed approach. Students’ responses
were categorised as pharmacist related, patient related, health-system
related, or social or cultural related. Quantitative data were
analysed using SPSS version 14.0.
Results: Survey instruments were returned by 649 students. Of
the respondents, 480 identified one or more barriers to medication
counselling for people with mental health disorders. Patient related
factors accounted for between 25.3% and 36.2% of barriers identified
by the pharmacy students. Pharmacist related factors accounted
for between 17.6% and 45.1% of the barriers identified by the
pharmacy students. Students in India were more likely to attribute
barriers to pharmacist and social and cultural related factors,
and less likely to health-system related factors, than students
studying in other countries.
Conclusion: The nature of barriers identified by pharmacy students
differed according to the country in which they studied. Undergraduate
and postgraduate pharmacy education programs may need to be amended
to address common misconceptions among pharmacy students.
