The purpose of this study was to identify patient-side factors that facilitate their provision of information to pharmacists (Survey A) and identify questions to assess their willingness to provide information to pharmacies (Survey B). Two web-based surveys were conducted among individuals aged 50-79 years who regularly brought their prescriptions to pharmacies. Survey A was conducted in February 2020 with 540 respondents. Multiple regression analysis was conducted, with “patients’ provision of information to pharmacies” as the objective variable. Survey B was conducted in November 2020 with 126 respondents for each three patterns of questions regarding “patients’ provision of information to pharmacies.” The distribution of responses was compared. More than half of the respondents were willing to provide information to pharmacists on the contents of the initial questionnaire. In contrast, less than half of the respondents were willing to provide information about the physician’s explanation of drug treatment, history of the disease, concerns and consultations about medication, blood tests results, and unusual symptoms. Factors on the patients’ side that promoted the provision of information included having a family pharmacist, a sense of trust in the pharmacist, recognition as a medical professional, and understanding the pharmacist’s work. As an indicator to evaluate the increase in patients’ willingness to provide information, the questionnaire statement “I will actively tell the pharmacist about [　].” was found to be appropriate. Words such as a physician’s explanation of drug treatment, history of the disease were included in [　].

Objectives: At the pharmacy, information obtained from patients by pharmacists is often inadequate. To motivate patients to provide information, we explored factors influencing their willingness to provide information and evaluated changes in their intention through informing of pharmacists’ contribution to pharmacotherapy. Methods: Four videos regarding pharmacists’ contribution to pharmacotherapy were created. A total of 600 participants who regularly visit pharmacies were targeted. One hundred and fifty participants watched one of the four videos and answered questions about their willingness to provide information to pharmacists before and after watching the videos. Key findings: The positive factors influencing the willingness to provide information were trust in the pharmacist and knowing pharmacists’ contribution to pharmacotherapy. After watching any of the videos, the willingness to provide information increased (P<0.001). In addition, when the participants were divided into two groups based on whether or not they had already known about the video content, the willingness of the participants in both aware and unaware groups to provide information improved (P<0.001). The factors that improved willingness in participants with low willingness were an explanation from their family pharmacist and trust in the pharmacist. On the contrary, having diabetes was a restraining factor. Conclusion: The study revealed that publicizing pharmacists’ contribution to pharmacotherapy increases the patients’ willingness to provide information to the pharmacist, regardless of their original level of awareness of the contribution. Furthermore, patient-pharmacist relationships based on trust in the pharmacist were influential.

In this study, we aim to clarify the impact of drug abuse prevention education and the experiences of people who have stayed in countries that are tolerate marijuana use for recreational purposes on their beliefs regarding the relaxation of the Cannabis Control Law. On May 12-13th, 2022, a web-based questionnaire survey was presented to Japanese nationals aged 18-41 years who had spent at least 5 days in a marijuana-tolerant country. Univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted with “Views on the Relaxation of the Cannabis Control Law” as the objective variable. A total of 160 respondents (45.6% male) responded, of whom 33.8% supported relaxing the law for the consumption of recreational cannabis in the form of food, drink, or smoke. Additionally, 27.5% of the respondents had encountered recreational cannabis through some channel during their stay. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed a significant positive association between idea of supporting the relaxation of the law and the tolerance of the image of the physical and mental effects of recreational cannabis and the social effects of its distribution. Neither knowledge of marijuana and drug abuse nor the experience of being encouraged to use it during their stay were significantly associated. The study suggested that in order to deter marijuana use during stays in such countries, it is necessary not only to improve knowledge, but also to foster imagination and the ability to think and predict the physical and social effects of its use.

In order for pharmacists to be collaboratively involved with patients in pharmacotherapy, there is a need to improve patients’ understanding of pharmacists’ involvement in extended pharmacotherapy, i.e., their interpersonal work. This study explores the factors that affect patients’ perceptions of pharmacists’ interpersonal work. A survey on patients’ perceptions of pharmacists’ interpersonal work was conducted among 450 patients aged 20 years or older who visited a pharmacy. Logistic regression analysis was performed with low and high patient perceptions of pharmacists’ interpersonal work as the objective variables. Valid responses were obtained from 350 participants. More than half of the respondents did not understand the nature of the interpersonal work of pharmacists. Patients who were unaware of pharmacists checking for side effects were more prevalent than those who were unaware of other interpersonal work. Explanations from the family pharmacist (OR＝2.25, P＝0.033) and trust in the pharmacist (OR＝1.11, P＝0.001) had a positive influence on patients’ perceptions of the pharmacist’s interpersonal tasks. As pharmacy pharmacists are increasingly becoming more involved with patients’ drug treatment and to ensure safe drug treatment practices for patients, it is considered important for pharmacists to actively explain their involvement in drug treatment to patients. This will be conducive to building trusting relationships, and for pharmacists to fulfil their function as family pharmacists.

To promote the stockpiling of regular medicines for disasters (SMD), we investigated SMD rates and clarified the relationship between SMD status (Yes or No) and the characteristics of patients with chronic diseases. A survey was provided to patients visiting the pharmacies in Hokkaido. SMD was defined as a patient having a supply of regular medicine for 7 days or more and replacing with new medicine within one year. Of a total of 537 participants (51.0% male; mean age 65.8 years), 61.1% had experienced a major disaster. The SMD rate was extremely low at 15.3%. The median score for a patient’s understanding of the regular medicine names (5-point scale: 1＝hardly understood, 5＝almost understood) was 2. The median number of monthly pharmacy visits was 0.8. 5.4% were recommended SMD by physicians or pharmacists. Results from multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that positive patient characteristics included age (OR＝1.154, 95%CI [1.026-1.298], P＝0.017), understanding of the regular medicine names (1.724, [1.039-2.859], P＝0.035), and recommendation of SMD by physicians or pharmacists (5.991, [2.616-13.722], P<0.001). A negative patient characteristic was the number of pharmacy visits (0.587, [0.383-0.899], P＝0.014). The most influential positive factor was the recommendation of SMD by physicians or pharmacists; however, only 5.4% of the participants had experienced this. The findings of this study indicated important that health care providers and the government to work together to devise easy-to-understand measures to inform local residents about the importance of SMD and how to them, conduct educational activities.