The Potential for Screening for Interpersonal Violence in Community Pharmacies: an Exploratory Study
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health problem of epidemic proportion; the only known effective health care intervention is routine screening for IPV exposure. Despite professional guidelines for routine screening, this intervention has been poorly adopted. Expansion of screening efforts to the community pharmacy setting provides an opportunity to have a substantial impact on the health, well-being of pharmacy patients. This investigation is the first to examine IPV screening related to the pharmacy environment. An existing measure of physicians' readiness to manage IPV (PREMIS) was adapted for the community pharmacy environment and validated in a national random sample of practicing community pharmacists. Additionally, a study of female pharmacy consumers was conducted to examine the acceptability of IPV screening in pharmacies. Results indicate that community pharmacists have minimal exposure to IPV education/training. While respondents expressed concern regarding training and time, they indicated that participation in screening may be valuable to patient health and as a relative advantage for their pharmacies. Female pharmacists were more likely to report intent to screen targeted patients for IPV. Consumers agreed that IPV screening is important for health care providers to do, but were uncertain as to whether pharmacists specifically should engage in screening. Comments indicated that consumers are unaware that pharmacists are trained in patient communication/counseling, suggesting a need for recognition of the skills and capabilities of community pharmacists. The potential for expanding IPV screening to community pharmacies should be prioritized among future studies of methods to address the public health problem of IPV.
Community Pharmacy, Intimate Partner Violence, Pharmacy Administration, Public Health Screening, Women's Health, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
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