THE PERSPECTIVES OF COMMUNITY PHARMACISTS ON THE BARRIERS AND ENABLERS TO SUSTAINABLE WEIGHT MANAGEMENT SERVICES (WMS) IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

Overweight and obesity have been widely acknowledged as the pandemic cause of amplified risk of non-communicable diseases around the world. In 2018, Malaysia became the fattest country in South East Asia with every one out of two Malaysians were either overweight or obese. As frontline healthcare providers, community pharmacists are the ideally positioned healthcare professional to provide weight management services to the public. Nevertheless, the weight management services in Malaysia community pharmacy setting remained underdeveloped and underutilised. This study aimed at exploring community pharmacists’ perspectives on the barriers and enablers of sustainable community pharmacy-based weight management services in Malaysia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 registered community pharmacists around Klang Valley, Malaysia, with the experienced in providing consultations and interventions on weight management related issues in community setting. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Data collected were analysed using thematic analysis. A total of eight themes emerged, organised under two categories: barriers and enablers. The three themes identified as barriers are lack of knowledge and skills, lack of motivation by consumers and perceived high costs by consumers. The five themes identified as enablers are interpersonal skills and knowledge development training, interprofessional collaboration with other healthcare providers, guidelines and protocol, record system for follow-up and public education. Community pharmacists expressed the need for skills in approaching and communicating with their customers without offending them. Interpersonal skills development training is also needed to communicate effectively with the public and to create awareness on the available roles and responsibilities of community pharmacists. This findings in this thesis could be taken to further study on the development or improvement in pharmacists’ training, public education, multidisciplinary collaboration between healthcare professionals and weight management protocol or guideline to support the development and sustainability of weight management service in community setting. Keywords: pharmacy-led weight management service, perceptions, pharmacists, barriers, enablers, obesity, Malaysia