KNOWLEDGE OF COMMUNITY PHARMACISTS AND PREGNANT WOMEN ABOUT MEDICINES GIVEN DURING PREGNANCY: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY FROM PALESTINE

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dc.contributor.authorEL-Baou, Bayan
dc.date.accessioned2024-10-09T12:24:26Z
dc.date.available2024-10-09T12:24:26Z
dc.date.issued2024-06-30
dc.description.abstractBackground: Pregnant women often suffer health conditions that need medication therapy. Therefore, the use of medications in pregnant women cannot be completely avoided. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and practices of community pharmacists and pregnant women regarding the use of medications during pregnancy. Methods: This study was conducted in a cross-sectional design. In this study, there were two target groups: community pharmacists and pregnant women. The study tools were two questionnaires that were developed based on previous studies. A purposive random sampling method was used for approximately (n=400) community pharmacists and (n=400) pregnant women distributed in the West Bank. All analyses were performed using SPSS 21. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies (numbers), percentages (%), mean, and standard deviation (SD) were generated. Data were evaluated for normal distribution using skewness and kurtosis and data were normally distributed. Chi-square and T-test were used to control for potential confounding factors. Multivariable logistic regression was also performed in order to adjust for potential confounders. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: In this study, complete questionnaires were returned by (n=400) community pharmacists and (n=400) pregnant women. The mean knowledge score was 71.0% ± 12.5% and 42.8%of the community pharmacists scored below 70%. Multiple linear regression, higher scores were predicted by years of experience, self-rating knowledge about the use of medicines during pregnancy, and belief that community pharmacists needed continuing education courses, especially in medicines used in pregnancy. In this study, 23.8% pregnant women stated that they had health issues that needed a visit to the physicians during the past 12 months. During the current pregnancy 96.8% pregnant women reported that they have used medications or supplements. Of the women, 88.5% stated that they needed information about the use of medications during pregnancy. The majority of the women 65.0% stated that pharmacists were their main source of information about the medications or supplements used during pregnancy. Of the pregnant women, 70.3% stated that women can use medications and supplements during pregnancy without a prescription. Conclusions: The findings reported in this study identified gaps in knowledge about the safety of medication use in pregnancy among the community pharmacists practicing in the West Bank of Palestine. Similarly, pregnant women reported inadequate knowledge about the importance of seeking medical advice before using medications during pregnancy. There is a need to improve the knowledge and practices of community pharmacists about medication use in pregnancy. Again, there is a need to improve information-seeking behavior among pregnant women when using medications during pregnancy.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11888/19631
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherAn-Najah National University
dc.supervisorShawahna, Ramzi
dc.titleKNOWLEDGE OF COMMUNITY PHARMACISTS AND PREGNANT WOMEN ABOUT MEDICINES GIVEN DURING PREGNANCY: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY FROM PALESTINE
dc.title.alternativeقياس مدى معرفة صيادلة المجتمع والحوامل بالأدوية التي تُعطى أثناء الحمل: دراسة مقطعية من فلسطين
dc.typeThesis
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