Abstract B64: An innovate approach to address cancer disparities: Community pharmacists as advocates for cancer prevention and early detection

Introduction: The roles of community pharmacists have evolved over several decades. In addition to being medication therapy managers, pharmacists' roles as disease state managers and public health advocates have become increasingly important in eliminating health disparities. The primary objectives of this study were to: (i) examine the level of role embracement by pharmacists to eliminate disparities; and (ii) identify the demographic and practice characteristics associated with this role.

Materials and Methods: The dependent variable for this study was public health role embracement relative to health disparities and the independent variables were demographic and practices variables. The objectives outlined for this study were achieved using a cross-sectional study design. A structured survey was developed for self-administration by study participants. Study participants were community pharmacists who attended the American Pharmacists' Association (APhA) Annual conference. Descriptve statistics and multiple regressions were used for the analyses.

Results: One hundred-six community pharmacists participated in the study. Majority of the participants were female;White, non-Hispanic; between 31 and 40 years; and have Bachelor's degree. Relative to the practice information, most of the participants practice in a chain pharmacy setting; fill more than 300 prescriptions a day; have more than one technician during a busy period; and do not have disease state management program at their practice sites. Participants expressed willingness to provide health promotion activities that will address health disparities was very high, supporting the fact that the community pharmacists had high public health advocacy role embracement. Willingness to provide these services was found to be determined by participants' health disparities knowledge, gender and highest pharmacy degree. Participants with higher knowledge, females and participants with a Bachelor of Pharmacy Degree (compared to participants with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree) were more willing to provide services that will eliminate health disparities. All the pharmacists expressed that they were willing to provide patient care services that can prevent disease, promote health and deliver appropriate care to eliminate health disparities. Ninety-six percent (96%) of the participants were willing to discuss information about cancer prevention and early detection with their patients. While participants were willing to provide activities that will address health disparities, their demonstrated knowledge of health disparities facts was low. Interestingly, 97% of the pharmacists would like to have additional educational information about the determinants of disease, causes of health disparities, and effective interventions for prevention and treatment to address health disparities in their communities.

Conclusion: Community pharmacists are strategically placed to effectively reduce cancer health disparities within their communities because they are: the most trusted and most accessible provider; in contact with culturally diverse people daily; and have access to the medication information of patients to provide comprehensive care. Pharmacists' willingness to address these disparities is a step in the right direction.