An Exploratory Study of Consumers' Social Behavior towards Role of Malaysian Community Pharmacists in Providing Healthcare

Aims: Consumers' awareness, perceptions, expectations and experiences are integral components of their satisfaction towards the quality of care provided by community pharmacists. This study aims to assess consumers' awareness, perceptions, expectations and experiences about the role of Malaysian community pharmacists in providing healthcare. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place of Study: Penang state in the north of Malaysia. Methodology: A survey was carried out by conveniently selecting the consumers patronizing the community pharmacies. A pretested and validated survey tool with different domains (Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.577 to 0.774) was used. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi-Square, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests) were used for analyzing the data using SPSS program, Version 26. Results: Of the total 424 questionnaires distributed, 195 (46%) were returned and usable. The median age of the consumers was 30 (IQR = 28-38). Majority of them were female, Chinese, living in urban area and having a bachelor degree. The mean awareness score was 8.39 (+/- 2.00), mean perception score was 2.95 (+/- 0.83), mean expectation score was 3.70 (+/- 0.13), and mean experience score was 3.17 (+/- 0.97). Trusting a pharmacist's advice about medicines was significantly associated with the consumer's age (p=0.030). age of the consumers was a significant determinant in their perception of community pharmacists suggestions about the use of certain prescription medicines to patients and physicians (p=.001 and p = 0.014, successively). The strongly anticipated that community pharmacists should monitor responses to drug therapy and be more concerned with the patient rather than being profit-oriented (medians = 5 and 4, respectively). Conclusion: The consumers in this study were aware of the role of community pharmacists in community pharmacies and healthcare settings. They also reported high perception, expectation and positive experience with the community pharmacists.