Indonesian Christian Community’s Perspective on Pharmacists and Medicine

Abstract

The use of drugs and the responsibility of pharmacists in the treatment process for the Indonesian Christian community face challenges in understanding biblical health doctrines especially in the use of drugs and the provision of advice by pharmacists. The view that medicine as a product of science is contrary to faith and belief in God's care for the health of the human body is a theological distortion. the pharmacist’s role is equated with relying on humans and not relying on God. This study assesses perspectives on medicine and pharmacists in the Indonesian Christian community. This research is a descriptive study using questionnaire. Respondents were randomly selected from all provinces in Indonesia following the proportion of the Christian population in the province. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were tested using the composite reliability (CR) method and Cronbach's alpha with a significance level of 5%. The questionnaire was assessed using a Likert scale and the results were classified into very good, good, and poor. This study shows the community's perspective on medicine still needs to be improved (32.6% very good, 40.6% good, and 26.8% poor). For Indonesian Christian community, the hesitation to use medicine is caused by the teaching that faith and God's promises in the Bible are sufficient to heal and maintain human health. While the perspective of pharmacists in the treatment process shows better results (45.4% very good, 36.2% good, and 18.4% poor).