Abstract

Community pharmacists (CPs) often stock herbal and dietary supplements (HDS) at their community pharmacies. Therefore, CPs should be held responsible in ensuring safe and appropriate use of HDS. The present study aims to investigate the factors associated with the intention (INT) of CPs to assess their customers’ HDS use. A cross-sectional study using a self-completed questionnaire was employed. A questionnaire along with a cover letter and stamped envelope was sent to CPs at community pharmacies located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Only 70 out of 533 CPs responded to the survey (response rate = 13.13%). The results showed that 11.4% (8/70) of CPs always assess customers’ HDS use. The CPs however, had positive and moderately high INT to assess customers’ HDS use (mean = 3.84 ± 0.70). Positive and significant correlations were noted between INT and belief about consequences (BAC), moral norms (MN), belief of capabilities (BOC), and role and identity (RAI). The relationship between INT and social influences (SI) was statistically insignificant. Efforts to enhance the INT of CPs to assess customers’ HDS use should be warranted. This could be achieved by enhancing beliefs that are positively associated with the CPs’ INT to assess customers’ HDS use.

Key words: Behaviour; community pharmacist; community pharmacy; herbal and dietary supplements; Malaysia