Impact of coaching by community pharmacists on drug attitude of depressive primary care patients and acceptability to patients; a randomized controlled trial

Objective: To investigate whether an intervention by Dutch community pharmacists improves the drug attitude of depressive patients, who are prescribed a nontricyclic antidepressant by their general practitioner (GP). Method: A randomized controlled trial with a 3-month follow-up was conducted among consecutive general practice patients who go to 19 pharmacists for antidepressants. The trial consisted of a control group (n=79) that received usual care and an intervention group (n=69) that received three drug coaching contacts at the pharmacy and a 25-min take-home video on the background of depression and the effects of medication. Outcome measure: Drug attitude (DAI). Results: At the baseline measurement there were no significant differences between the intervention and control group on any demographic and health status variables or on clinical symptoms. At the 3-month follow-up intervention patients had a better drug attitude (P=0.03) than their controls and evaluated the coaching of their pharmacist as more positive. They also felt the video to be useful. It had changed their ideas about medication. Conclusions: Coaching by community pharmacists is an effective way to improve drug attitude of depressive primary care patients and it is acceptable to them.