Objective: To examine the health promotion beliefs and practices of pharmacists.
Design: Cross-sectional mail survey.
Setting: Indiana.
Participants: Staff pharmacists.
Methods: Of the 1,440 registered Indiana pharmacies, one-half were selected using a systematic random process. Questionnaires were mailed to the 720 selected pharmacies asking one staff pharmacist to complete a 73-item questionnaire.
Results: A total of 552 pharmacists responded to the questionnaire, providing a 76.7% response rate. The majority of pharmacists believed that 10 of the 20 behaviors encouraged by national health objectives were very important for the average person. There was, however, considerably less agreement among pharmacists about the importance of the other 10 behaviors and practices. Pharmacists' involvement, preparation, and confidence in specific health promotion areas and activities were limited. A number of barriers were cited by respondents that could have hindered pharmacists' involvement in public health education activities. Despite these hindrances, pharmacists appear to be making strides toward providing health promotion education and activities.
Conclusion: Pharmacists are readily accessible sources of information concerning the importance of needed lifestyle factors on health. They can provide valuable education to patients about improvement of lifestyles as a routine component of pharmaceutical care.