Health seeking behaviour among Lebanese population: A highlight on seeking care from pharmacists

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic information of the study participants and association with seeking diagnosis from pharmacists.

Demographic factors*	Seeking diagnosis from pharmacists
	Total N = 493	Often/Always	No/Rarely
	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	p-Value
Age groups (years)				0.021
21–29	182 (37.1%)	94 (51.9%)	87 (48.1%)
30–49	181 (36.9%)	98 (54.1%)	83 (45.9%)
50–64	93 (18.9%)	37 (40.2%)	55 (59.8%)
>65	35 (7.1%)	11 (31.4%)	24 (68.6%)
Gender				0.147
Male	269 (54.6%)	123 (45.9%)	145 (54.1)
Female	224 (45.4%)	117 (52.5%)	106 (47.5)
Level of education				0.017
School education or less	207 (42.1%)	114 (55.1%)	93 (44.9%)
College education	285 (57.9%)	125 (44.2%)	158 (55.8)
Medical professionals				0.003
Health professionals	16 (4.5%)	2 (12.5%)	14 (87.5%)
Non-health professionals	338 (95.5%)	172 (51%)	165 (49%)
Average family income per month^a				0.001
<500 USD	84 (17.1%)	48 (57.1%)	36 (42.9%)
500–1000 USD	181 (36.9%)	95 (52.5%)	86 (47.5%)
1000–2000 USD	156 (31.8%)	78 (50%)	78 (50%)
>2000 USD	69 (14.1%)	18 (26.1%)	51(73.9%)
Health insurance status				0.002
Insured	338 (68.8%)	149 (44.1%)	189 (55.9%)
Not insured	153 (31.2%)	91 (59.5%)	62 (40.5%)
Availability of a general practitioner visited regularly				0.006
Yes	177 (36.1%)	72 (40.7%)	105 (59.3%)
No	313 (63.9%)	168 (53.7%)	145 (46.3%)

*Total does not count always to 493 due to missing data; Rate of 1USD equals 1507.5LBP at the time of data collection; Marital status, governorate of residence, number of children in household, employment status, type of health coverage, coverage of prescribed drugs, and coverage of visit to doctor not represented as they were not significantly associated with the outcome variable

Bold values are significant p-values.

Table 2. Knowledge of participants regarding the Order of Pharmacists in Lebanon (OPL) laws and the role of the pharmacists.

Assessment of knowledge	Total answered n	Answered correctly n (%)
OPL laws do not allow pharmacists to prescribe	492	222 (45.1%)
There is a law forbidding the Lebanese pharmacist to diagnose	492	88 (17.9 %)
Pharmacist should provide health care education and advise safe use of medications	491	348 (70.9%)
Pharmacist should formulate and distribute drugs	491	218 (44.4%)
Pharmacist should dispense drugs based on a medical doctor’s prescription	491	438 (89.2%)
Pharmacist should not diagnose chronic diseases and prescribe a treatment regimen	491	444 (90.4%)
Pharmacist should not dispense drugs without prescription	491	437 (89.0%)
Pharmacist should not suture lacerations	491	422 (85.9%)
Pharmacist should not deal with health emergencies (such as injuries, burns…etc.)	491	292 (59.5%)

Table 3. Unadjusted and adjusted Odds Ratios of seeking diagnosis from pharmacists by some demographic and healthcare coverage variables.

Variables	Unadjusted OR	95% CI for unadjusted OR	p-Value*	Adjusted OR	95% CI for adjusted OR	p-Value**
Age
21–29	1	–	0.021	1	–	0.08
30–49	1.09	(0.72, 1.65)		1.01	(0.57, 1.77)
50–64	0.62	(0.37, 1.03)		0.56	(0.29, 1.07)
>65	0.42	(0.19, 0.91)		0.32	(0.08, 1.20)
Gender
Male	1	–	0.14	1	–	0.51
Female	1.30	(0.91, 1.85)		1.17	(0.71, 1.92)
Education
School education or less	1	–	0.017	1	–	0.51
College education	0.64	(0.45, 0.92)		0.84	(0.52, 1.41)
Governorate
Beirut	1	–	0.125	1	–	0.31
North	1.18	(0.66, 2.08)		1.41	(0.68, 2.92)
South	1.29	(0.73, 2.27)		1.68	(0.80, 3.52)
Beqaa	0.90	(0.50, 1.63)		0.78	(0.36, 1.69)
Mount Lebanon	0.60	(0.32, 1.12)		0.74	(0.34, 1.62)
Nabatieh	0.65	(0.35, 1.22)		1.04	(0.46, 2.35)
Job health professionals
Health professionals	1	–	0.003	1	–	0.06
Non-health Professionals	7.29	(1.63, 32.6)		4.45	(0.92, 21.50)
Income
<500 USD	1	–	0.001	1	–	0.10
500–1000 USD	0.82	(0.49, 1.39)		0.77	(0.37, 1.59)
1000–2000 USD	0.75	(0.43, 1.27)		0.96	(0.44, 2.10)
>2000 USD	0.26	(0.13, 0.52)		0.36	(0.13, 0.97)
Medical insurance
Insured	1	–	0.002	1	–	0.08
Not insured	0.53	(0.36, 0.79)		0.63	(0.37, 1.07)
Availability of a general practitioner visited regularly
No	1	–	0.006	1	–	0.02
Yes	0.59	(0.40, 0.85)		0.57	(0.35, 0.93)

*p-Value for bivariate analysis; **p-value for multivariate analysis.

Figure 1. Factors influencing decision to seek medical care from pharmacist (N = 493**). *Total does not count always to 493 due to missing data. **Participants were able to select all that apply.

Figure 2. Conditions for which pharmacists were visited to get health care (N = 493**). *Conditions apply to females only. **Total does not count always to 493 due to missing data