The Relationship Between Pharmacy Student\u27s Beliefs About Medications and Their Counseling Behaviors

Objectives: Objectives were to assess pharmacy student beliefs about medications and the relationship with grades in a pharmacy counseling course. Method: Third year pharmacy students in a pharmacy counseling course were surveyed using the previously validated Beliefs about Medications Questionnaire-General (BMQ-G). The BMQ-G includes four subscales (overuse, harm, benefit, and sensitivity to medications) rated on a 5-point Likert scale (higher scores represent stronger feelings). Belief profiles were created using two-step cluster analysis to group students with similar beliefs. Students also reported demographics and prior work in a pharmacy setting. Grades from a ‘simulated’ patient counseling session were collected via school records. Student t-test and multivariate linear regression were used to compare beliefs with grades. Results: Among 66 students (84.5% response rate), 54.5% were female, 80.3% white, and 77.3% non-Hispanic. Nearly all students (84.8%) reported working in a pharmacy setting. Overall mean(sd) scores on the beliefs scales were: overuse 3.12(.76), harm 1.83(.53), benefit 3.99(.55), sensitive soma 2.37(.82). Cluster analyses revealed two beliefs profiles: Negative Profile-more feelings of overuse, harm, and sensitivity to medications and less benefit, Positive Profile-less feelings of overuse, harm, and sensitivity to medications and greater benefit. Students with positive belief profiles had higher grades compared to students with negative belief profiles (90.0 vs. 87.2, p=.014). Findings remained in a multivariate linear regression controlling for gender and prior work in a pharmacy. Implications: As counseling becomes primary to a pharmacist’s role, findings from this study demonstrate the need for greater understanding about the relationship between pharmacist’s beliefs about medications and patient counseling