Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Nov 3;8(4):206.
doi: 10.3390/pharmacy8040206.

Staff and Users' Experiences of Pharmacy-Based Sexual and Reproductive Health Services: A Qualitative Interview Study from the UK

Julia Gauly  1 , Jonathan Ross  2 , Joanne Parsons  1 , Helen Atherton  1
Affiliations

Staff and Users' Experiences of Pharmacy-Based Sexual and Reproductive Health Services: A Qualitative Interview Study from the UK

Julia Gauly et al. Pharmacy (Basel). .

Abstract

Since August 2015, a large range of sexual health and reproductive health services have been provided in more than 120 pharmacies across Birmingham (England). Our study aimed to explore how pharmacy staff and pharmacy users experience delivering or being provided with sexual health and reproductive health services. Between March and September 2019, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 pharmacy staff delivering sexual and reproductive health services and 15 people who had used a sexual and reproductive health service at the pharmacy. Interviews were analysed thematically. Pharmacy users found services convenient to use and were largely satisfied with pharmacy staff consultation skills. Staff were motivated to deliver the services, although some felt that they did not receive sufficient recognition for their work. Barriers to pharmacy-based sexual and reproductive health services were identified, including lack of privacy for users, lack of staff and user awareness of the services, lack of trained staff to deliver services and lack of capacity for copper coil insertions in females presenting for emergency contraception. The identification of barriers to effective service provision can be used to improve the delivery of sexual and reproductive health services in pharmacies and lead to a greater uptake.

Keywords: United Kingdom; contraception; pharmacy staff; pharmacy users; public health; qualitative study; service delivery; sexual and reproductive health; sexually transmitted infection(s); thematic analysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

J.R. reports personal fees from GSK Pharma, Mycovia and Nabriva Therapeutics, as well as ownership of shares in GSK Pharma and AstraZeneca Pharma; is author of the UK and European Guidelines on Pelvic Inflammatory Disease; is a Member of the European Sexually Transmitted Infections Guidelines Editorial Board; and is a Member of the National Institute for Health Research Funding Committee (Health Technology Assessment programme). He is an NIHR Journals Editor and associate editor of Sexually Transmitted Infections journal. He is an officer of the International Union against Sexually Transmitted Infections (treasurer), and a charity trustee of the Sexually Transmitted Infections Research Foundation.

Figures

Figure A1
Figure A1
Overview of themes and subthemes.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Overview of recruitment strategies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Rowley J., Hoorn S.V., Korenromp E., Low N., Unemo M., Abu-Raddad L.J., Chico R.M., Smolak A., Newman L., Gottlieb S., et al. Chlamydia, gonorrhoea, trichomoniasis and syphilis: Global prevalence and incidence estimates, 2016. Bull. World Health Organ. 2019;97:548–562P. doi: 10.2471/BLT.18.228486. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Stulpin C., Marrazzo J.M. WHO: 1 million new urogenital STIs acquired each day worldwide. Infect. Dis. Child. 2019;32:5.
    1. Bearak J., Popinchalk A., Alkema L., Sedgh G. Global, regional, and subregional trends in unintended pregnancy and its outcomes from 1990 to 2014: Estimates from a Bayesian hierarchical model. Lancet Glob. Health. 2018;6:e380–e389. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(18)30029-9. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aranda K., Coleman L., Sherriff N., Cocking C., Zeeman L., Cunningham E. Listening for commissioning: A participatory study exploring young people’s experiences, views and preferences of school-based sexual health and school nursing. J. Clin. Nurs. 2017;27:375–385. doi: 10.1111/jocn.13936. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Public Health England . Sexually Transmitted Infections and Screening for Chlamydia in England. Public Health England; London, UK: 2018. Health Protection Report Volume 12 Number 20.

LinkOut - more resources