Pharmacy studentsʼ preparedness to communicate with mental health disorders patients

Abstract

The aim of this project was to explore whether fourth-year pharmacy students in England are prepared to communicate with mental health patients. Mental health problems are rising in the United Kingdom, affecting around one in four people. A questionnaire-based study measured the knowledge about and attitude toward mental health problems. Participants were fourth-year pharmacy students from two west midlands universities. More males than females correctly answered the “attitude towards mental health” questions. However, overall, only 45.5% of students answered the “attitude towards mental health problems” questions correctly. Males demonstrated a better level of knowledge than females, with 33% overall answering 6 or more questions of the 13 knowledge questions correctly. Sixty-five percent of participants scored under 50%. The highest total score was 81%, and the lowest was 19%, three people did not answer any questions. In conclusion, a gap in knowledge was identified within the fourth-year pharmacy student cohort, and more intervention will be required to improve knowledge and attitudes such as the Mental Health First Aid courses.