Barriers to medication counselling for people with mental health disorders: a six country study

UNLABELLED 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.