Women’s beliefs about medicines and adherence to pharmacotherapy in pregnancy: Opportunities for community pharmacists?

Ceulemans, Michael, Lupattelli, Angela, Nordeng, Hedvig, Odalovic, Marina, Twigg, Michael ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0910-3850 and Foulon, Veerle (2019) Women’s beliefs about medicines and adherence to pharmacotherapy in pregnancy: Opportunities for community pharmacists? Current Pharmaceutical Design, 25 (5). pp. 469-482. ISSN 1381-6128

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Abstract

Background: During pregnancy women might weigh benefits of treatment against potential risks to the unborn child. However, non-adherence to necessary treatment can adversely affect both mother and child. To optimize pregnant women’s beliefs and medication adherence, community pharmacists are ideally positioned to play an important role in primary care. Objective: This narrative review aimed to summarize the evidence on 1) pregnant women’s beliefs, 2) medication adherence in pregnancy, and 3) community pharmacists’ counselling during pregnancy. Method: Three search strategies were used in Medline and Embase to find original studies evaluating women’s beliefs, medication adherence and community pharmacists’ counselling during pregnancy. All original descriptive and analytic epidemiological studies performed in Europe, North America and Australia, written in English and published from 2000 onwards were included. Results: We included 14 studies reporting on women’s beliefs, 11 studies on medication adherence and 9 on community pharmacists’ counselling during pregnancy. Women are more reluctant to use medicines during pregnancy and tend to overestimate the teratogenic risk of medicines. Risk perception varies with type of medicine, level of health literacy, education level and occupation. Furthermore, low medication adherence during pregnancy is common. Finally, limited evidence showed current community pharmacists’ counselling is insufficient. Barriers hindering pharmacists are insufficient knowledge and limited access to reliable information. Conclusion: Concerns about medication use and non-adherence are widespread among pregnant women. Community pharmacists’ counselling during pregnancy is insufficient. Further education, training and research are required to support community pharmacists in fulfilling all the opportunities they have when counselling pregnant women.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Pharmacy (former - to 2024)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Patient Care
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	20 Mar 2019 10:30
Last Modified:	25 Sep 2024 13:59
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/70274
DOI:	10.2174/1381612825666190321110420

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