Assessment of Jordanian pharmacists’ knowledge and perception regarding sexual and reproductive health and their practice in providing sexual counseling to patients

• Shereen Arabiyat ^[3] ; Odate Tadros ^[3] ; Rana Abu Farha ^[1] ; Deema Jaber ^[2] ; Tamara Al-daghastani ^[3]
  1. [1] Applied Science Private University

     Applied Science Private University

     Jordania

     
  2. [2] Zarqa University

     Zarqa University

     Jordania

     
  3. [3] Department of Medical Allied Sciences, Salt College, Al-Balqa Applied University, Salt, Jordan.

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• Localización: Pharmacy Practice (Granada), ISSN-e 1886-3655, Vol. 21, Nº. 1, 2023 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Jan-Mar)
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Objective: In this quantitative study, we intended to explore sexual/ reproductive counseling between Jordanian pharmacists by addressing pharmacists’ knowledge regarding sexual/ reproductive health and their perception and practice in providing counseling to patients. Method: This study adopted a survey methodology using a self-completed validated and administered unnamed survey. Participants were asked to fill-out the electronic survey after providing their electronic consent. Social media was utilized to extend the survey to facilitate contact multiple parts of pharmacists’ community. Results: In this study, 200 pharmacists agreed to participate in this study. Most of the pharmacists knew that depression (n= 182, 91%) and alcohol (n=171, 85.5%) were among the main factors that my decrease sexual performance. Also, only 38.5% of the pharmacists (n= 77) agreed that discussing sexual issues is the responsibility pf pharmacists, and only 55% of them (n= 110) felt comfortable discussing patients’ sexual matters as any medical issue. Moreover, more than two-third of the pharmacist (n= 146, 73%) reported that if they were consulted about sexual problem, they may explore patients’ problem. On the other side, only half of pharmacists (n= 102, 51%) revealed that they may discuss the side effects of prescribed drug if it might affect sexual performance. Conclusion: Education on sexuality/ reproduction is the key to help Jordanian pharmacists to advance patients’ sexual/ reproductive health. In general, research on sexual/ reproductive health in conservative societies is limited. Therefore, additional surveys that include the perspectives of both patients and pharmacists on sexuality/ reproduction to augment this normally ignored aspect of health are necessary.