Attitudes toward concordance and self-efficacy in decision making: a cross-sectional study on pharmacist–patient consultations

Yew Keong Ng,1 Noraida Mohamed Shah,1 Ly Sia Loong,2 Lay Ting Pee,3 Sarina Anim M Hidzir,4 Wei Wen Chong1 1Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 2Department of Pharmacy, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 3Department of Pharmacy, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 4Department of Pharmacy, Hospital Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia Purpose: This study investigated patients’ and pharmacists’ attitudes toward concordance in a pharmacist–patient consultation and how patients’ attitudes toward concordance relate to their involvement and self-efficacy in decision making associated with medication use.Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients with chronic diseases and pharmacists from three public hospitals in Malaysia. The Revised United States Leeds Attitudes toward Concordance (RUS-LATCon) was used to measure attitudes toward concordance in both patients and pharmacists. Patients also rated their perceived level of involvement in decision making and completed the Decision Self-Efficacy scale. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent t-test were used to determine significant differences between different subgroups on attitudes toward concordance, and multiple linear regression was performed to find the predictors of patients’ self-efficacy in decision making.Results: A total of 389 patients and 93 pharmacists participated in the study. Pharmacists and patients scored M=3.92 (SD=0.37) and M=3.84 (SD=0.46) on the RUS-LATCon scale, respectively. Seven items were found to be significantly different between pharmacists and patients on the subscale level. Patients who felt fully involved in decision making (M=3.94, SD=0.462) scored significantly higher on attitudes toward concordance than those who felt partially involved (M=3.82, SD=0.478) and not involved at all (M=3.68, SD=0.471; p