Understanding barriers to prescription retrieval and attitudes toward mental health medications at a university student health services pharmacy

Abstract

ObjectivesTo describe barriers affecting college students’ ability to retrieve prescription medications for mental health conditions from a community pharmacy embedded within a student health center on a university campus and then describe beliefs and attitudes toward the use of those medications. MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study of college students who were prescribed a medication(s) for a mental health condition(s) and left the medication(s) unclaimed at the pharmacy for at least 5 days. Eligible participants were identified through routine reminder telephone calls and then provided a link to an online survey via e-mail. The survey collected information on demographics, prescription retrieval barriers, and medication beliefs and attitudes using 2 validated questionnaires. Data were summarized using descriptive statistics and scoring methods specific to the validated questionnaires. ResultsA total of 83 e-mails were distributed with 46 usable responses received (55.4% response rate). Participants were undergraduate students (n = 38, 82.6%) and most frequently prescribed a medication(s) for depression (n = 21, 45.7%) or anxiety (n = 16, 34.8%). Forgetting to pick up their medication was the most commonly cited reason for prescription nonretrieval (n = 32, 69.6%) followed by limited pharmacy hours (n = 21, 45.7%). Participants generally viewed the necessity of their medication(s) as outweighing their concerns about their medication(s), and they generally viewed themselves as medication adherent. ConclusionsUniversity students taking medications for mental health conditions identified forgetfulness and limited pharmacy hours as the most common reasons for not retrieving prescriptions. Students generally viewed their medication(s) as necessary and themselves as medication adherent, suggesting that attitudes and beliefs may play a smaller role in medication use behaviors in this population. Future research is needed to develop and evaluate interventions that improve medication adherence in college students, potentially focused on reminder-based interventions.