Introduction :

Improving health literacy (HL) is key in chronic care to enhance patients’ comprehension and empowerment regarding their disease and treatments. At present, community pharmacy workers (pharmacists and pharmacy technicians) are less involved in interventions to improve patients' HL. However, as primary care workers, they have a crucial role to play in the transmission of information and counselling on treatment management when communicating with low HL patients. The objective of our study is to explore the determinants of the implementation of HL-tailored communication practices in chronic care among community pharmacy professionals.

Method :

A cross-sectional sequential explanatory mixed-methods study is underway. An online self-completed questionnaire underpinned by Theoretical Domain Framework (TDF) has been sent to community pharmacy workers in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. Semi-structured interviews are planned with a sample of survey respondents, to gather more in-depth information about HL-tailored communication practices and help design interventions to raise awareness on HL-tailored communication in community pharmacies. The determinants explored are social demographic characteristics, professional practices, perceptions about HL and TDF domains that can explain behaviours and practices.

Results :

In March 2021, the online survey was sent via several communication channels to the 2476 community pharmacies in the region. Preliminary findings show that community pharmacy workers meet every day chronic patients with low HL levels. They are not familiar with the HL concept, but they informally identify patients with low HL and use tailored communication techniques. Final data analysis is planned for July 2021 and final results will be presented at the congress.

Discussion :

Our results will allow us to identify strategies to improve HL-tailored practices and develop tools or training adapted to pharmacy workers’ needs, and thus contribute to the usage of communication techniques adapted to patients’ HL. The strengths of our study are the community-based recruitment, the theory-based approach using the TDF and the mixed-methods approach, aiming to give a comprehensive perspective of pharmacy workers perceptions and practices regarding HL.