Pharmacists’ Knowledge and Intention to Provide Palliative Care Services in Saudi Arabia: Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour

Abstract

Providing palliative care to patients with life-threatening illnesses requires multidisciplinary efforts from different healthcare providers. Identifying the attitude, knowledge, and intentions of pharmacists to provide this service in Saudi Arabia is essential. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the palliative care knowledge, intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control of pharmacists and what factors predict their intentions. Cross-sectional questionnaires based on the theory of planned behaviour were distributed to pharmacists in hospitals and community pharmacies. They included items that measured palliative care knowledge, attitudes, intentions, subjective norms, and the perceived behavioural control of pharmacists and identified other sociodemographic and pharmacy-practice-related items. In total, 131 pharmacists completed the questionnaires, showing an average score on palliative knowledge (8.82 ± 1.96; range: 1–14), strong intentions (5.84 ± 1.41; range: 1–7), positive attitudes (6.10 ± 1.47; range: 1–7), positive subjective norms (5.31 ± 1.32; range: 1–7), and positive perceived behavioural control (5.04 ± 1.21; range: 1–7). Having completed a pharmacy residency program, working longer hours per week, having a more positive attitude, and perceived stronger subjective norms were significantly associated with a strong intention to provide palliative care services. Therefore, enabling and motivating pharmacists to complete pharmacy residency programs and improve their attitudes could increase their intentions to provide these services.