Abstract
Providing smoking cessation services is one role of community pharmacists in Thailand. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate activities and barriers related to smoking cessation services provided in community pharmacies in Thailand, as well as to compare these activities and barriers between those pharmacists providing and those not providing smoking cessation services. A postal questionnaire was conducted to collect information from community pharmacists across Thailand. In all, 413 valid responses were received from 5235 questionnaires, giving a 7.9% response rate. Of the 413 respondents, 152 (37%) pharmacists provided smoking cessation services in their pharmacy. The activities of smoking cessation services varied. Time for counseling each smoker varied, a mean of 15.1 ± 10.9 min (range 1–60) per person for the first time, and 8.9 ± 6.7 min (range 1–30) for each follow-up visit. Community pharmacists, providing smoking cessation services, were more likely to have pharmacist assistants, be a member of the Thai Pharmacy Network for Tobacco Control, and have more than 1 pharmacist on duty. The most dispensed pharmaceutical product for smoking cessation was nicotine gum. Their most perceived barriers were being unable to follow-up and inadequate staff. In conclusion, only a minority of community pharmacists in Thailand are engaged in smoking cessation activities, even though some perceived barriers existed.
Highlights
Tobacco smoking is a preventable cause of death and causes more than six million deaths annually [1]
This study showed that community pharmacists from all parts of Thailand engaged in providing smoking cessation services, mostly in Bangkok and northern Thailand
This study revealed that pharmacists not providing smoking cessation services were older, nonmembers of the Thai Pharmacy Network for Tobacco Control (TPNTC), did not have a pharmacist assistant, had only one pharmacist on duty, and did not stock smoking cessation products, compared to pharmacists providing smoking cessation services
Summary
Tobacco smoking is a preventable cause of death and causes more than six million deaths annually [1]. Smoking accounted for one in ten of all deaths in Thailand, and is related with increasing health expenditure [2]. Smoking cessation is one strategy to reduce the cause of preventable death from tobacco use. Offering help to quit tobacco use is one strategy for tobacco cessation, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) [3]. Thailand has adopted the WHO policy for tobacco control, and has been recognized for its success in tobacco control for many years [4]. Community pharmacists play key roles in helping smokers to quit smoking [5,6]
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