Development and Evaluation of a Web-Based Educational Toolkit on the Knowledge,Attitudes,and Practices of Psychiatric Prescribers Regarding Long-Acting Injectable Antipsychotics

Abstract

Background:

Long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs) are unique and effective pharmacological treatment options for schizophrenia that are underutilized in clinical practice. Research surrounding prescriber barriers to the underuse of LAIs are limited to a few seminal studies which identified psychiatric prescriber barriers to the use of LAIs as knowledge deficits, uninformed attitudes, and poor prescribing practices. There is a gap in the literature regarding effective educational interventions to target the identified psychiatric prescriber barriers to the use of LAIs.

Aims:

The study aimed to develop a web-based educational toolkit that would positively affect the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of psychiatric prescribers regarding LAIs.

Methods:

A one-group, before and after design with a convenience, purposive sample of 17 psychiatric prescribers to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) using a 20-item KAP questionnaire before and after a presentation of a web-based educational toolkit about LAIs was chosen.

Results:

The web-based educational toolkit slightly improved the total and three subscales KAP scores of psychiatric prescribers. However, only the difference in total KAP scores was found to be statistically significant.

Conclusions:

The developed and evaluated web-based educational toolkit could provide a foundation for positive change to psychiatric prescribers’ KAP regarding LAIs.