UNDERSTANDING AND EVALUATING THE ACCEPTABILITY OF PHARMACISTS TO PROVIDE INDEPENDENT SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTION SERVICES

Abstract

Access to sexual health services, including sexually transmitted infection (STI) care, is becoming more challenging. Pharmacists have shown success in providing STI services, but their acceptability to deliver these services is not fully understood. This thesis uses the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability (TFA) to explore factors influencing pharmacists’ acceptability to provide STI services. It includes four chapters: an introduction, a scoping review of literature on pharmacists' acceptability of STI services, a qualitative study on pharmacists' acceptability of providing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and a discussion chapter. The scoping review indicated high acceptability for pharmacists to provide STI services, while the qualitative study revealed that pharmacists were largely accepting and confident in implementing PrEP provisions. Overall, the findings show high acceptability across all TFA constructs, with pharmacists expressing confidence in expanding their practice to include STI services, given appropriate training and strategies to address barriers.