Study of clinical pharmacist input into the care of homeless people
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Qualitative study of clinical pharmacist input into the care of people experiencing homelessness
IRAS ID
229424
Contact name
Sarah Johnsen
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Heriot-Watt Unversity
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 28 days
Research summary
The links between homelessness and poor health are well recognised, and the difficulties healthcare providers encounter in meeting the needs of the most vulnerable homeless people well documented. Practitioners are increasingly developing innovative interventions to improve the accessibility and effectiveness of healthcare for this group. Dedicated clinical pharmacy input represents one such innovation. This has been provided in Glasgow for three years, where it is delivered via consultations in the Homeless Health Service (HHS), in hostels, and (much more recently) via street outreach and drop-in centres. Service users’ and non-users’ perceptions and experiences of this service have not, to date, been evaluated. Nor have key stakeholders’ views of the strengths and weaknesses of the service been assessed.
This qualitative study will: assess homeless people’s perceptions and (where relevant) personal experiences of dedicated clinical pharmacist input into their clinical care; seek staff and stakeholder views on the strengths and weaknesses of the intervention; and consult homeless participants on the design of a proposed RCT which will assess the impact of the service on outcomes at a larger scale. The findings will be used to shape the delivery of the pharmacy service itself (i.e. to maximise user uptake and service effectiveness) and inform the design of the proposed RCT (i.e. to maximise study relevance, recruitment and retention).
The study will involve in-depth, semi-structured individual face-to-face interviews with: c.24 homeless people who have used the dedicated pharmacy service (recruited via a specialist homeless GP practice, hostels and street outreach) and c.6 homeless people who have not used the pharmacy service or other specialist homeless GP services (recruited via hostels). In addition, semi-structured in-depth interviews will be conducted with c.2-3 staff involved in service delivery, and a further c.6 stakeholders who work in partnership with the service and/or with the same clientele.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NW/0636
Date of REC Opinion
3 Nov 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion