Health literacy assessment in community pharmacies
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A study to determine the feasibility and acceptability of using a health literacy assessment in community pharmacy to tailor advice on medicine side effect risks
IRAS ID
159024
Contact name
Paul B Duell
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 22 days
Research summary
Many patients do not take their medicines as their doctor intended. In order for patients to make an informed choice on whether to take their medicines they need to consider the risks and benefits associated with the medication. This can be very difficult for patients that do not have adequate health literacy skills. Research in the United States indicates that approximately a third of Americans have low health literacy skills. There is limited evidence in the UK to support tailoring health information to health literacy needs of individuals. Evidence suggests that patients do not get enough information on the risks associated with medicines and that health care professionals are concerned about providing risk information. This study would assess the feasibility of creating a pharmacy intervention to provide tailored advice on medicines side effect risks and the benefit of treatment based on the individual patient’s health literacy ability.
The study has two elements. The first tests whether measuring health literacy in a pharmacy is feasible as this has not been done in the UK. Patients will be asked to complete a health literacy assessment called the Newest Vital Sign (NVS). Data collected will include the time taken to complete the NVS and the number of patients that agree to complete the assessment. Patient and pharmacy staff will be invited to attend focus group discussions. During these discussions their experiences of completing the NVS will be captured.
The second element will use the same focus groups to obtain patients and pharmacy personnel’s views and experiences on obtaining and giving detailed information on the risks and benefits of medicine taking and the barriers to communicating this on a regular basis.
This new learning can then be used to identify better ways to communicate risk and to develop a community pharmacy based intervention.REC name
South Central - Berkshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/SC/1355
Date of REC Opinion
8 Dec 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion