From personal crisis care to convenience shopping: an interpretive description of the experiences of people with mental illness and addictions in community pharmacies.

Background: The role of community pharmacists is changing globally with pharmacists engaging in more clinically-oriented roles, including in mental health care. Pharmacists' interventions have been shown to improve mental health related outcomes but various barriers can limit pharmacists in their care of patients. We aimed to explore the experiences of people with lived experience of mental illness and addictions in community pharmacies to generate findings to inform practice improvements.

Community pharmacists' experiences in mental illness and addictions care: a qualitative study.

Background: Community pharmacists are accessible health care professionals who encounter people with lived experience of mental illness and addictions in daily practice. Although some existing research supports that community pharmacists' interventions result in improved patient mental health outcomes, gaps in knowledge regarding the pharmacists' experiences with service provision to this population remain. Improving knowledge regarding the pharmacists' experiences with mental illness and addictions service provision can facilitate a better understanding of their perspectives and be used to inform the development and implementation of interventions delivered by community pharmacists for people with lived experience of mental illness and addictions in communities.

Partnering to enhance mental health care capacity in communities: A qualitative study of the More Than Meds program.

Background: Community pharmacists care for and support people with lived experience of mental illness in their communities. We developed a program called More Than Meds to facilitate enhancing capacity of community pharmacists' roles in mental health care.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative study and used a directed content analysis with application of the Theoretical Domains Framework as part of our underlying theory of behaviour change and our analytic framework.

A Qualitative Study of Antipsychotic Medication Experiences of Youth.

Objective: To explore the lived experience of youth who are prescribed antipsychotics.

Methods: We conducted an interpretive phenomenology study of young people with recent experience of taking antipsychotics. Youth were interviewed and a staged approach was used for data analysis of transcriptions.

Pharmacists' performance in a telephone-based simulated patient study after a mental health capacity-building program.

Background: The More Than Meds program was developed to enhance community pharmacy based services for people with mental illness.

Objective: To evaluate the care of pharmacists who participated in this specific program using a telephone-based simulated patient with insomnia.

Methods: A trained actor used a simulated patient case scenario and telephoned pharmacists (i.

A theory-informed approach to mental health care capacity building for pharmacists.

Background: Pharmacists are knowledgeable, accessible health care professionals who can provide services that improve outcomes in mental health care. Various challenges and opportunities can exist in pharmacy practice to hinder or support pharmacists' efforts. We used a theory-informed approach to development and implementation of a capacity-building program to enhance pharmacists' roles in mental health care.

Prescribing trends of antipsychotics in youth receiving income assistance: results from a retrospective population database study.

Background: Prescribing of antipsychotics (AP) to young people has increased in the last decade internationally. We aimed to characterize AP prescribing in a population of low-income youth in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Methods: We conducted a population database study of AP prescription claims and health services utilization by young people aged 25 years and younger receiving drug benefits through the publicly funded Pharmacare program between October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2007.

Efficacy of sertraline in a 12-week trial for generalized anxiety disorder.

Objective: Sertraline's efficacy and tolerability in treating generalized anxiety disorder were evaluated.

Method: Adult outpatients with DSM-IV generalized anxiety disorder and a total score of 18 or higher on the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale were eligible. After a 1-week single-blind placebo lead-in, patients were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of double-blind treatment with placebo (N=188, mean baseline anxiety score=25) or flexible doses (50-150 mg/day) of sertraline (N=182, mean anxiety score=25).

Effects of ageing on prefrontal temporal cortical network function in healthy volunteers as assessed by COWA. An exploratory survey.

The prefrontal temporal cortical network (PFTCN) is a crucial part of a widely distributed neural network which has been shown (a) to subserve language function; (b) to modulate the cognitive circuits that are linked with work production; and (c) to organise thinking and develop word-search strategies. Dysfunction of the PFTCN has been reported in very early states of the dementing process. However, the functional state of the PFTCN during ageing in healthy volunteers remains unclear.