Breastfeeding friendly pharmacy from pharmacists perspective
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Mea’ad M Harahsheh 1 , Tareq L Mukattash 1 * , Samah Al-shatnawi 1 , Rana Abu-Farha 2 , Deirdre D’Arcy 3 , Anan Jarab 1 4 , Sawsan Abuhammad 5
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1 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, JORDAN2 Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Applied Science Private University, Amman, JORDAN3 School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, IRELAND4 College of Pharmacy, Al-Ain University, Abu Dhabi, UAE5 Department of Maternal and Child Health, Faculty of Nursing, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, JORDAN* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Objective: The primary goals of our research were to explore pharmacists’ perception of breastfeeding friendly pharmacy (BFPh) requirements and factors associated with their awareness about these requirements.
Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted using a self-administered survey. A convenience sample (n=381) of community pharmacists, was recruited through social media resources. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS software version 35. The frequency or percentages were used for categorical variables while means and standard deviations were used for continuous variables. Also, linear regression analysis was used to evaluate factors affecting pharmacists’ awareness about BFPh requirements.
Results: The majority of recruited pharmacists were female (n=329, 86.4%), aged between 23 to 30 years of age (78.7%, n=300). The most common steps to describe a pharmacy as a BFPh from the perspective of surveyed pharmacists were training all pharmacy staff to develop the necessary skills (n=239, 62.7%)) followed by informing all pregnant women about the benefits of breastfeeding (n=225, 59.1%)) and having a written policy on feeding infants and young children according to the recommendations of the WHO and in compliance with the international code (n=209, 54.9%)). Furthermore, pharmacists aging 40 years or less showed a significantly higher awareness about BFPh requirements compared to those aging above 40 years (beta=-0.013, p= 0.045). In addition, 37% (n=142) of pharmacists perceived that answering general questions or concerns on general medication intake while breastfeeding babies is their major role in breastfeeding support.
Conclusion: Breastfeeding support is a promising area for promoting professional pharmacy services. Training all pharmacy staff and informing all pregnant about the benefit of breastfeeding are the most common two steps to describe a pharmacy as BFPh. Additionally, the awareness of BFPh requirement was associated with pharmacists age. Future focus should be placed on implementing BFPh project in Jordanian pharmacies, where the steps of this project are modified in line with the capabilities of pharmacies in Jordan within governmental pharmaceutical control.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Original Article

ELECTRON J GEN MED, 2023, Volume 20, Issue 3, Article No: em469

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejgm/12940

Publication date: 01 May 2023

Online publication date: 05 Feb 2023

Article Views: 839

Article Downloads: 864

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