An Assessment of Community Pharmacists’ Competence and Involvement in Adolescent Sexuality Education and Reproductive Health Services
Background: Provision of sexuality education and reproductive health (SERH) services for the adolescent population has been inadequate. Increasing access to adolescent SERH through the community pharmacy is a viable option in bridging this gap. Objective: The study objectives were to assess commu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing
2023-04-01
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| Series: | INNOVATIONS in Pharmacy |
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| Online Access: | https://pubs.lib.umn.edu/index.php/innovations/article/view/5092 |
| _version_ | 1827948460681199616 |
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| author | David Adje Umeokwoaka Vivian Chinenye |
| author_facet | David Adje Umeokwoaka Vivian Chinenye |
| author_sort | David Adje |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Background: Provision of sexuality education and reproductive health (SERH) services for the adolescent population has been inadequate. Increasing access to adolescent SERH through the community pharmacy is a viable option in bridging this gap.
Objective: The study objectives were to assess community pharmacists’ involvement, self –reported competence, confidence and comfort level regarding provision of adolescent SERH services and explore barriers to service delivery.
Method: A pre-tested questionnaire was distributed to 200 community pharmacists by simple random sampling. Self-reported competency and confidence were measured on a Likert scale ranging from 1-5, midpoint 3. Continuous data was expressed as mean and standard deviation while categorical data was expressed as frequencies and percentages.
Results: Community pharmacist’ self- reported competence, confidence and comfort levels were high, 4.09 ± 0.14; 3.2±0.75; 4.17± 0.18 respectively on a Scale of 1-5. Majority of the pharmacists, 130 (81.3%) claimed to have had formal training in sexuality education and nearly three quarters, 105 (65.6%) had recently updated their knowledge. Although product availability was adequate, 118 (73.6%), availability of educational materials was low, 37 (23%). Schools were the most frequent place where pharmacists had distributed sexuality education materials 96 (60%). Lack of time and religious objection were the major barriers to service delivery 99(61.9%); 63(39.4%) respectively.
Conclusion: Pharmacist’ self-reported comfort, competency and confidence levels in delivering adolescent SERH services were high. The major barriers to service delivery were lack of time and religious objection. These findings suggest that community pharmacists have a potentially major impact on improving access to adolescent SERH service. Therefore, the option of delivering SERH services through pharmacies is worth exploring in order to improve access and service delivery to the adolescent population.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T12:55:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-358e2be25b9643339a79e02a3b6187f3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2155-0417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T12:55:46Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | INNOVATIONS in Pharmacy |
| spelling | doaj.art-358e2be25b9643339a79e02a3b6187f32023-05-13T18:53:43ZengUniversity of Minnesota Libraries PublishingINNOVATIONS in Pharmacy2155-04172023-04-0114110.24926/iip.v14i1.5092An Assessment of Community Pharmacists’ Competence and Involvement in Adolescent Sexuality Education and Reproductive Health ServicesDavid Adje0Umeokwoaka Vivian Chinenye1Delta State University, Abraka, NigeriaSolina Center for International Development and Research, Lagos, Nigeria Background: Provision of sexuality education and reproductive health (SERH) services for the adolescent population has been inadequate. Increasing access to adolescent SERH through the community pharmacy is a viable option in bridging this gap. Objective: The study objectives were to assess community pharmacists’ involvement, self –reported competence, confidence and comfort level regarding provision of adolescent SERH services and explore barriers to service delivery. Method: A pre-tested questionnaire was distributed to 200 community pharmacists by simple random sampling. Self-reported competency and confidence were measured on a Likert scale ranging from 1-5, midpoint 3. Continuous data was expressed as mean and standard deviation while categorical data was expressed as frequencies and percentages. Results: Community pharmacist’ self- reported competence, confidence and comfort levels were high, 4.09 ± 0.14; 3.2±0.75; 4.17± 0.18 respectively on a Scale of 1-5. Majority of the pharmacists, 130 (81.3%) claimed to have had formal training in sexuality education and nearly three quarters, 105 (65.6%) had recently updated their knowledge. Although product availability was adequate, 118 (73.6%), availability of educational materials was low, 37 (23%). Schools were the most frequent place where pharmacists had distributed sexuality education materials 96 (60%). Lack of time and religious objection were the major barriers to service delivery 99(61.9%); 63(39.4%) respectively. Conclusion: Pharmacist’ self-reported comfort, competency and confidence levels in delivering adolescent SERH services were high. The major barriers to service delivery were lack of time and religious objection. These findings suggest that community pharmacists have a potentially major impact on improving access to adolescent SERH service. Therefore, the option of delivering SERH services through pharmacies is worth exploring in order to improve access and service delivery to the adolescent population. https://pubs.lib.umn.edu/index.php/innovations/article/view/5092Community pharmacy, Adolescent, Sexuality education, Sexual and reproductive health |
| spellingShingle | David Adje Umeokwoaka Vivian Chinenye An Assessment of Community Pharmacists’ Competence and Involvement in Adolescent Sexuality Education and Reproductive Health Services INNOVATIONS in Pharmacy Community pharmacy, Adolescent, Sexuality education, Sexual and reproductive health |
| title | An Assessment of Community Pharmacists’ Competence and Involvement in Adolescent Sexuality Education and Reproductive Health Services |
| title_full | An Assessment of Community Pharmacists’ Competence and Involvement in Adolescent Sexuality Education and Reproductive Health Services |
| title_fullStr | An Assessment of Community Pharmacists’ Competence and Involvement in Adolescent Sexuality Education and Reproductive Health Services |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Assessment of Community Pharmacists’ Competence and Involvement in Adolescent Sexuality Education and Reproductive Health Services |
| title_short | An Assessment of Community Pharmacists’ Competence and Involvement in Adolescent Sexuality Education and Reproductive Health Services |
| title_sort | assessment of community pharmacists competence and involvement in adolescent sexuality education and reproductive health services |
| topic | Community pharmacy, Adolescent, Sexuality education, Sexual and reproductive health |
| url | https://pubs.lib.umn.edu/index.php/innovations/article/view/5092 |
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