The impact of a person-centred community pharmacy mental health medication support service on consumer outcomes

Abstract

© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Background: Mental illness is a worldwide health priority. As medication is commonly used to treat mental illness, community pharmacy staff is well placed to assist consumers. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of a multifaceted, community pharmacy medication support service for mental health consumers. Method: Pharmacists and pharmacy support staff in three Australian states were trained to deliver a flexible, goal-oriented medication support service for adults with mental illness over 3–6 months. Consumer-related outcome measures included perceptions of illness and health-related quality of life, medication beliefs, treatment satisfaction and medication adherence. Results: Fifty-five of 100 trained pharmacies completed the intervention with 295 of the 418 recruited consumers (70.6% completion rate); 51.2% of consumers received two or more follow-ups. Significant improvements were reported by consumers for overall perceptions of illness (p? < ?0.001), the mental health domain of quality of life (p? < ?0.001), concerns about medication (p?=?0.001) and global satisfaction with medication (p? < ?0.001). Consumers also reported an increase in medication adherence (p?=?0.005). Conclusions: A community pharmacy mental health medication support service that is goal-oriented, flexible and individualised, improved consumer outcomes across various measures. While further research into the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of such a service is warranted, this intervention could easily be adapted to other contexts.