OBJECTIVES: To assess pharmacists' attitudes toward diabetes, to evaluate the measurement properties of the Diabetes Attitude Scale (DAS) in a sample of pharmacists, and to estimate the number and attitudes of pharmacists certified as diabetes educators (CDE). DESIGN: Mail survey. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: A systematic sample of 522 hospital, community, and other pharmacists registered with the professional pharmacy association in Alberta, Canada. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The survey contained the 31 items of the DAS with 4 additional items that addressed attitudes toward the role of the pharmacist. RESULTS: Response rate was 65%. Pharmacists' mean attitude scores were positive to strongly positive toward the Special Training, Control/Complications, Team Care, and Pharmacist's Role factors and neutral toward the Compliance, NIDDM, Difficult to Treat, and Outpatient Education factors. Pharmacists' attitudes varied based on practice setting, year of graduation, and whether they had diabetes or a CDE designation. Most factor scores had good reliability. CONCLUSION: Pharmacists agree that they should be part of the health care team for managing diabetes, should be required to have specialized training to provide primary diabetes care, and that they have the skills to become diabetes educators.
OBJECTIVES: To assess pharmacists' attitudes toward diabetes, to evaluate the measurement properties of the Diabetes Attitude Scale (DAS) in a sample of pharmacists, and to estimate the number and attitudes of pharmacists certified as diabetes educators (CDE). DESIGN: Mail survey. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: A systematic sample of 522 hospital, community, and other pharmacists registered with the professional pharmacy association in Alberta, Canada. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The survey contained the 31 items of the DAS with 4 additional items that addressed attitudes toward the role of the pharmacist. RESULTS: Response rate was 65%. Pharmacists' mean attitude scores were positive to strongly positive toward the Special Training, Control/Complications, Team Care, and Pharmacist's Role factors and neutral toward the Compliance, NIDDM, Difficult to Treat, and Outpatient Education factors. Pharmacists' attitudes varied based on practice setting, year of graduation, and whether they had diabetes or a CDE designation. Most factor scores had good reliability. CONCLUSION: Pharmacists agree that they should be part of the health care team for managing diabetes, should be required to have specialized training to provide primary diabetes care, and that they have the skills to become diabetes educators.