Pharmacists' involvement in and attitudes toward pharmacy practice research: A systematic review of the literature

Background: The role of pharmacists in health care has evolved toward patient-centered care. Pharmacy practice-based research is essential to the advancement of practice; however, literature addressing attitudes and involvement of pharmacists in practice research indicates reluctance among them. An account of studies undertaken thus far is warranted.

Objective: This systematic review aims to summarize and evaluate the views and attitudes of pharmacists regarding their involvement in pharmacy practice research as well as the barriers and enablers to such research.

Methods: A systematic review of original studies published mainly in MEDLINE, PubMed, EBSCO, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, and Google Scholar was conducted to identify published studies that report pharmacists' attitudes and involvement in research as well as perceived facilitators and barriers. Data were independently extracted by two reviewers using a standardized data abstraction tool.

Results: Fifteen studies utilizing questionnaire-based surveys, focus groups or interviews were identified and included in the review. The majority of studies (10 of 15) involved community pharmacists, while only 6 involved hospital pharmacists. Studies were mostly conducted in the UK (5 of 15), followed by Australia and Canada (3 of 15 each). Early studies focused on pharmacists' attitudes on practice-based research, but most recently there was attention on practice-based research networks (PBRNs). Pharmacists' awareness, interest and willingness to participate in practice research, their actual involvement in research projects, and positive attitude toward research have increased over time. Pharmacists generally believed that practice-based research was needed for professional development of pharmacy and agreed with the importance of research to support evidence-based practice and to improve the quality of patient care and outcomes. The most commonly reported barriers to participation in research across the reviewed studies were: lack of time and workload; insufficient or lack of funds; and lack of research knowledge, training, mentorship and support.

Conclusions: Pharmacists recognize the value of research in advancing pharmacy practice and indicate their willingness to be involved in independent research and in PBRNs. Lack of time, training and support were identified as the greatest limitations to participation in practice research. These findings have important implications on promoting research capacity building through the development of PBRNs involving academic and pharmacy practitioners as well as informal research training programs.