Pilot and quantitative evaluation of the TARGET acne toolkit by UK pharmacy professionals working in general practice.

Background: Acne vulgaris (acne) is a common skin condition sometimes needing topical or oral antibiotic treatment. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians (together known as pharmacy professionals) working in general practice are well placed to ensure their appropriate use.

Objectives: The objectives of this study are to pilot an evidence-based intervention ('How to…' tool) to review treatments in the management of acne and evaluate the capability, opportunity, motivation and behaviour (COM-B) of pharmacy professionals working in general practice before and after the use of this tool.

Design, Setting And Participants: A quantitative electronic survey was developed asking UK-based pharmacy professionals working in general practice to rate their agreement with 21 predefined statements related to the COM-B model.

Intervention: Participants were sent an initial survey, given time to access and use the 'How to…' acne resources and then sent a follow-up survey 2 weeks later.

Outcome Measures: Primary outcome was change in 5-point Likert scale responses to statements on capability, opportunity and motivation in the management of acne. Secondary outcome was the perceived usefulness of the toolkit.

Results: 141 pharmacy professionals completed the initial survey; 19 completed the follow-up survey. Significant improvement in the 5-point Likert scale means that responses were observed after implementation of the acne 'How to' resource; capability 3.68 (SD 0.40) versus 4.11 (SD 0.29), (189) =-5.10, p <0.001; opportunity 3.85 (SD 0.24) versus 4.07 (SD 0.29), (94)=-2.50, p=0.007 and motivation 4.35 (SD 0.47) versus 4.51 (SD 0.32), (113)=-2.51, p=0.007. The 'How to' resources were rated as being useful (4.06, SD 0.12) and supportive (4.08, SD 0.18) to help pharmacy professionals in all areas of managing acne.

Conclusion: The acne 'How to' resources are useful to pharmacy professionals in managing acne in general practice and may improve their capability. Further work is needed with greater numbers of participants to demonstrate generalisability of this outcome.