Abstract
Objectives: To assess the psychiatric patients’ perception, views, and satisfactions with the pharmacists’ role in mental health care. Methods: The study was conducted in a Neuropsychiatric Hospital in South Eastern part of Nigeria from October 2019 through January 2020 using a cross sectional survey in convenient samples and a total of 128 patients completed the study. The questionnaire contained the patients’ demographic details, six-item questions on respondents’ perception, 7-item questions on patients’ satisfaction, and six-item questions on the respondents’ view. The questionnaire was coded, checked for accuracy and analyzed using statistical package for social sciences version 23 for windows. Results: The response rate was 94% where 136 respondents showed willingness to participate, but 128 respondents completed the study. All the participants were young adults and adults, male (53.1%), female (46.9%). About 93.8% of the respondents agreed that the pharmacists were friendly and 89.1% admitted that pharmacists’ care were about perfect. About 69.5% were satisfied with the pharmacists’ professional outlook, while only 42.2% are of the view that the pharmacists offer counseling without their asking for it. Conclusion: The patients’ perception on the pharmacists’ skills and knowledge in handling psychiatric patients was high; their satisfaction with the pharmacists’ professional outlook can be considered fair, while their views on pharmacists’ counseling can be considered to be generally poor.
Highlights
Mental illness is often seen as a public health burden and of great concern to the caregivers, health workers, friends, and family members
Nigeria is part of conflict-induced countries where it is slated that mental illness is highest in, with stigmatization the greatest problems that faces the patients in those areas, which leads to leaving a reasonable proportion of the patients to cope with themselves with few of them receiving the most basic treatment [4]
The results show that 42.2% of the respondents were of the view that the pharmacists usually offer counseling without the patients asking for it; and about 37.5% were of the view that they do not usually offer counseling without the patients asking for it (Table 5)
Summary
Mental illness is often seen as a public health burden and of great concern to the caregivers, health workers, friends, and family members. Nigeria is part of conflict-induced countries where it is slated that mental illness is highest in, with stigmatization the greatest problems that faces the patients in those areas, which leads to leaving a reasonable proportion of the patients to cope with themselves with few of them receiving the most basic treatment [4]. The perceptions and satisfactions of the patients and/or caregivers on the pharmacists’ knowledge and skills in mental care can be important measures on their treatment outcomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychiatric patients’ perceptions, views, and satisfactions on the pharmacists’ role in mental care. The study assessed the patients’ perceptions on the pharmacists’ knowledge and skills, the patients’ views on the pharmacists’ counseling abilities, and the patients’ satisfactions on the pharmacists’ professional outlook; in mental health care
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