OBJECTIVES:

Palliative care services are provided by pharmacists and other healthcare professionals to improve the quality of life of patients with serious injuries or life-threatening diseases. However, little is known about the intention of pharmacists to provide palliative care services in Saudi Arabia. This study aimed to identify pharmacists’ intention attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and knowledge about the provision of palliative care services.

METHODS:

This study used a cross-sectional questionnaire based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The survey was distributed to 131 pharmacists working in hospital and community pharmacies. It included 15 items on a seven-point Likert scale measuring pharmacist attitudes (4 items), intentions (3 items), subjective norms (4 items), perceived behavioral control (4 items), and 14 (true and false) items, ranging from 1=minimum score to 14=maximum score, to measuring knowledge about the provision of palliative care services, and other sociodemographic and pharmacy practice-related items.

RESULTS:

131 pharmacists completed the study with an average age of 31.16 (±7.84) years, and the majority of them were male (61.07%), did not complete a residency program (80.15%), and did not previously provide palliative care (63.36%). Pharmacists had shown a positive attitude towards palliative care services (mean=6.10±1.12), strong intention (mean=5.83±1.41) and high perceived social pressure to provide them(mean=5.31±1.32), strong perceived control over providing them (mean=5.04±1.21), and a good palliative care knowledge (mean=8.82±1.95).

CONCLUSIONS:

Although the majority of pharmacists did not provide palliative care in the past, they showed slightly good knowledge about palliative care and a positive intention and attitude to provide this valuable service. Thus, implementing palliative care services in hospitals and community pharmacies would help pharmacists provide these services to patients in need.