10.7272/Q63F4MT6
Diamond-Smith, Nadia
0000-0002-8711-3029
University of California, San Francisco
Percher, Joanna
University of California, Berkeley
Saxena, Malvika
Public Health Foundation of India
Dwivedi, Pravesh
University of Lucknow
Srivastava, Aradhana
Public Health Foundation of India
Data from: Knowledge, provision of information and barriers to high
quality medication abortion provision by pharmacists in Uttar Pradesh,
India
Dryad
dataset
2020
Medication abortion
India
Quality of care
Mixed-methods
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
https://ror.org/032atxq54
2020-04-03T00:00:00Z
2020-04-03T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4318-4
902813 bytes
7
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Background: Almost three quarters of the 16 millions abortions in India
were medication abortion (MA) purchased outside of facilities. Past
research has shown low quality of care given to clients seeking MA from
pharmacists in this setting. Most purchasers of MA from pharmacies in
India are men, further complicating the pathway to high quality
information for women taking MA. Developing interventions that can improve
the information and quality of interactions for women obtaining MA through
this channel is critical. Objectives: The objective of this study was to
measure the impact of an informational pamphlet given to pharmacists
providing medication abortion on provider knowledge and behaviors The
study was conducted in three districts of Uttar Pradesh India in and
around Lucknow in 2018. Study Design: Pre intervention surveys were
conducted with 283 pharmacists about knowledge and practices around MA.
Half of the pharmacists were then provided with a 2 page informational and
pictorial pamphlet. About 6 months after the baseline survey, pharmacists
were again asked to complete a similar survey. At the time of recruitment,
pharmacists were asked to provide consent for a mystery client to visit
their shop in the next 6 months. About 3-4 months after the baseline, 1 of
4 mystery client profiles visited 111 pharmacists (both intervention and
control). Mystery clients presented as 4 profiles (unmarried woman,
unmarried man, married woman and married man) purchasing MA.
Findings: Pharmacists had overall low knowledge about dosing, timing, side
effects and complications for MA. The intervention improved pharmacists
knowledge of a variety of quality indicators, but did not change their
self reported practices or behaviors (Mystery client data). Pharmacists
provided lower quality information to mystery clients presenting as women
(compared to men), especially young, unmarried women. Conclusions:
Intervening to change behaviors among pharmacists is challenging and must
address both knowledge but also behavior change, including stigma and
biases.
Mixed methods (pre/post survey and mystery clients)