National Survey Identifying Community Pharmacist Preceptors' Experience, Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors Influencing Intent to Recommend Cannabidiol Products

Objectives: The primary study objective was to characterize community pharmacist preceptors' experience, clinical and legislative knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding cannabidiol (CBD). The secondary study objective was to identify which of these factors influenced intent to recommend CBD products.

Methods: A 36-item survey was used to collect respondent demographics, experience, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding CBD. Items assessing attitudes, behaviors, and intent were developed using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Community pharmacist preceptors for schools of pharmacy across the United States were eligible to complete an electronic survey open for 12 weeks from January to April 2020. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize respondent demographics, experience, knowledge, and TPB constructs. Ordinal logistic regression was used to evaluate which factors influenced intent.

Results: The survey was disseminated to an estimated 2242 community pharmacist preceptors and received 295 responses (13.2% response rate). Of the 272 respondents who met eligibility criteria to progress through the survey, the survey was completed in its entirety by 236 respondents (86.8% completion rate). For experience items, most respondents (70.7%) reported receiving previous education on CBD. Almost half (48.4%) reported CBD sales in their pharmacies, whereas 89.1% reported answering clinical questions about CBD. For knowledge items, respondents performed poorly on CBD adverse effect and drug interaction items. Many respondents were not comfortable counseling on (49.0%) or recommending (56.1%) CBD products for patient use. Most (74.5%) believed more research was needed before they would feel comfortable recommending CBD products. Most (57.8%) reported not having reliable CBD resources available in their pharmacies. Subjective norms and previous CBD education or personal research were the only factors found to have direct influences on respondents' intent to recommend CBD products.

Conclusion: Opportunities exist to fill knowledge gaps, enhance confidence, and provide desired educational resources for community pharmacist preceptors on CBD products.