Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Pharmacists regarding Dietary Supplements : A Community Pharmacy- based survey in Tehran

AbstractThe present study aimed to evaluate pharmacy practice regarding dietary supplements in Tehran (I.R. Iran). So, the factors affecting on pharmacists' practice including their knowledge, attitude, and some underlying factors were evaluated. This is an observational knowledge; attitude and practice (KAP) study. The unit of analysis include community pharmacies located in Tehran. The data was collected in 2013 via an anonymous, self-administered; postal questionnaire consisted of demographic information, knowledge (subjective and objective questions), attitude, and practice evaluation part. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using SPSS.This study showed that although the knowledge has a significant effect on attitude and practice, there the attention should be paid on other underlying factors such as experience, pharmacy ownership situation and academic degree which might have positive impact on pharmacists' practice. Furthermore, this study found that, there is a positive relationship (P= 0.5) between practice and age, years of experience, academic degree, and pharmacy ownership situation. According to this study, although many underlying factors such as experience, university and pharmacy ownership have impact on pharmacy practice regarding dietary supplements, the most attention should paid to knowledge as the main factor and more attention should be paid to training on dietary supplement could be recommended.