Assessment of the practice of Hospital Pharmacists in the Rehabilitation of Drug Abuse victims in Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria.

Abstract

Background: Substance abuse and drug addiction remain significant public health challenges in Nigeria, with rising cases contributing to a range of physical, psychological, social, and economic consequences. Drug abuse is one of the social menaces that is plaguing our society. The menace had posed a serious social threat among the adolescent and other groups of the society. Due to the public
health challenge globally, the study assessed the practice of hospital pharmacists in the rehabilitation of drug abuse victim in Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria.

Methods: The study was carried out in hospitals within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja in which a well-structured questionnaire was developed and systematically distributed to hospital pharmacists. The research design adopted was survey design. The questionnaire was distributed to the respondents in pharmacy department of different hospitals within the FCT. Prior to the commencement of instrument administration, ethical approval was sought and obtained from the Federal Capital Territory Health Research Ethics Committee. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences IBM SPSS package 20 was used to analyze the data collected through questionnaires. The questions and responses were pre-coded and then entered into the software for analysis.

Results: A total of 234 respondents consisting of 39.0% and 61.0% male and female gender participated respectively. The majority of respondents were aged 30–34 years, with 66.7% married and 24% holding postgraduate qualifications. Most pharmacists (25.2%) had 5–9 years of experience, and 61.5% had never participated in drug abuse rehabilitation. However, those involved were mostly within the 5–9 years' experience range. A total of 80.8% had received training on drug abuse, and 96.6% had encountered drug abuse victims. Most respondents (97.4%) were willing to counsel victims, 60.6% agreed to refer them to mental health clinics, and 87.2% considered pharmacists' role in preventing prescription medicine abuse important. While 29.5% treated suspected abusers like other patients, 62.4% did not. Key barriers to counseling included manpower shortages (96.8%), time constraints, inadequate referral knowledge, and counseling skills. The relationship between additional qualifications and willingness to counsel was not statistically significant (p = 0.636).

Conclusion: These findings revealed that the majority of hospital pharmacists do not participate in rehabilitation of drug abuse victims in the hospital despite the invaluable roles required of them. There is a need for hospital pharmacists within the FCT to actively engage in regular counseling through pharmaceutical care in rehabilitation of the victims of drug abuse. The hospital management and
government should address the major barriers to patient counseling and pharmaceutical care itemized in this study, which serves as a significant measure to mitigate drug abuse.