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Innovative asthma health promotion by rural community pharmacists: a feasibility study
Author(s) -
Kritikos Vicky,
Saini Bandana,
BosnicAnticevich Sinthia Z.,
Krass Ines,
Shah Smita,
Taylor Susan,
Armour Carol
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
health promotion journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.515
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 2201-1617
pISSN - 1036-1073
DOI - 10.1071/he05069
Subject(s) - outreach , asthma , medicine , pharmacy , family medicine , public health , community health , health promotion , promotion (chess) , rural area , pharmacist , community pharmacist , nursing , pathology , politics , political science , law
Issue addressed Asthma awareness in a rural community and the involvement of the community pharmacist in proactive health promotion. Methods Between September 2002 and May 2003, seven community pharmacists from Orange, a rural town in New South Wales, were trained to provide two asthma outreach programs: one targeting adolescents in high schools (Year 11 students) using Triple A training; and a public forum on asthma for the wider community. Results There was a significant increase in the mean asthma knowledge scores of Year 11 students in each high school after Triple A training. From the multivariate analysis, although there was a significant increase in mean asthma knowledge scores over time (F=101.09, df=1, p<0.001), there were no differences between high schools (F=2.79, df=2, p>0.05). There was a significant increase in the proportion of asthma‐related pharmacy visits involving requests for information on asthma and on asthma devices at the four different time points. Conclusions The study provided a unique opportunity for community pharmacists to increase asthma awareness in a rural setting. The study demonstrated that it is feasible for rural community pharmacists to become involved in proactive health promotion and effectively provide asthma outreach programs. So what? It is recommended this feasibility study form the basis for future work in demonstrating the effectiveness and sustainability of this model using a randomised controlled design.