Health promotion in the high street: a study of community pharmacy

Abstract

Health promotion activity in community pharmacies was studied along with pharmacists' perceptions of the barriers and constraints to increasing health promotion activity within community pharmacy. A stratified sample (of 30 pharmacists) was investigated using a structured interview in the spring of 1993. Health promotion activities were undertaken by all study pharmacies. The number of times advice was given and/or a query dealt with was estimated to be around 1400 per week for the sample. It was found that the activity was 2.5 times more likely to be reactive rather than proactive. In general pharmacists felt isolated and excluded from formal activity: five pharmacists felt that they had enough support from local health promotion units and only one pharmacist had any liaison with a unit. There was evidence to suggest that these community pharmacies were an under-utilised resource for health promotion.