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Evaluation of the use of pharmacy health education materials during national smile week 1997

1. Introduction and background

1.2 Background

• HEBS Health Service Programme have undertaken aproject to run from 1996 to 1998 in order to support Community Pharmacists, anddevelop their role as health promoters.
• In relation to National Smile Week in May 1997 HEBSdeveloped a two phase project. Phase One consisted of a package of resourcematerials produced to enable Community Pharmacists to support National SmileWeek and, secondly, a training package was developed which offered a frameworkfor the training of Community Pharmacists in opportunistic health promotion(Phase Two).
• It is planned that this training will be implementedat a local level as part of the SCPPE (Scottish Centre for Post QualificationPharmaceutical Education) education and training programme, in conjunction withlocal health promotion departments later this year and early next year. HEBSwish to commission research in order to evaluate the first phase of theNational Smile Week project, and to assess the level of use and factorsinfluencing the use of resource materials which were provided for NationalSmile Week. Phase Two of the project will be evaluated at a later date.
• There are approximately 1100 Community Pharmacies inScotland, employing 2100 Community Pharmacists. These Pharmacies may be ownedby an individual Pharmacist (independent) or a company (multiple chain) with aPharmacy Superintendent. Pharmacists can be located in a variety of differentsettings such as high street shops, suburbs, health centres, supermarkets orshopping malls.
• It is therefore believed that the potential for theinvolvement of Pharmacies in health promotion is great. There are around600,0000 customers per day visiting Pharmacies in Scotland where they couldreceive health education in a targeted and co-ordinated manner.
• Considerable activity has been undertaken to supportCommunity Pharmacists and develop their health promotion role. This is true ona national basis through schemes such as the SCPPE Education TrainingProgramme, and locally through projects set up by health education or promotiondepartments. The degree of actual support which is provided locally by healthpromotion departments varies throughout Scotland.
• HEBS Health Service Programme identified Pharmacyhealth promotion as an area for project development, and a task group was setup in September 1996 to take this forward.
• In 1995, the Oral Health Strategy for Scotland(Scottish Office Department of Health) also highlighted the potential role forPharmacists in oral/dental health promotion. It included as a key area foraction "to encourage Pharmacists to promote oral health in their dealingswith the public and advise on appropriate sugar free medication".
• It was therefore established that a prime focus forHEBS Pharmacy Health Promotion Project should be dental/oral health for under5's. The under fives were identified as a key target group in 1991 when thepolicy document ‘Health Education in Scotland’ set a target that‘60% of five year old school entrants should have no cavities, fillings orextractions by 2000'. Over the last 3 years, HEBS has worked with this targetgroup through mass media and more targeted campaigns. The potential role of thePharmacist is highlighted by the Oral Health Strategy. The National Smile Weekcampaign was seen as an ideal opportunity to provide resource materials forPharmacists.
• The task group identified the aims of the project asfollows:-
  - to contribute to oral health promotion in achievementof national targets and objectives as outlined in the Oral Health Strategy forScotland, and in "Eating For Health a Diet Action Plan for Scotland"in relation to pre school children
  - to develop oral health materials for pre school childrenwithin the context of the Community Pharmacy, and link this with National SmileWeek 1997
• In order to achieve these aims, HEBS identified anumber of project objectives, including the provision for Community Pharmacistsof appropriate resource material to enable them to support National Smile Week,and to encourage development of alliances for health at a local level andwithin primary care.
• This project has been undertaken in two phases, weare concerned with the evaluation of phase one. Phase One of the projectaddresses the aforementioned key objectives and has involved the production ofa package of dental health resource material for use by Community Pharmacistsduring and after National Smile Week (21st - 28th May 1997). The packagecomprised materials designed to provide information about dental/oral health.
• For Community Pharmacists the material included HEBS"Promoting Oral Health Handbook for Health Professionals inScotland". The five key dental messages for pre 5's were reinforced oncolourful _ A4 handouts.
• The five key messages were:-
  - By 6 months of age, or when a baby’s first teethcomes through, all children should see a dentist
  - Buy sugarfree medicines for children
  - Avoid sugary foods and drinks especially at bed time andhelp clean children’s teeth with a fluoride toothpaste (pea sized amount)
  - Sugary drinks given in a bottle are a major cause of toothdecay, milk or plain water are better for teeth
  - Eating sugary sweets between meals leads to tooth decay,only give children sweet things at mealtimes
• Windows Stickers, Hanging Cards, Shelf Wobblers andShelf Talkers were designed specifically for use in pharmacy displays. Forparents or carers of pre 5 children these materials included copies of HEBSleaflets "Give Teeth a Chance".
• To launch resource materials and in order to planaction around this display week, a briefing day was held on 11th March 1997 forrepresentatives of 3 professional groups, i.e. health promotion, pharmacy anddentistry.

1.1 Introduction

• Market Research Scotland were commissioned by theHealth Education Board for Scotland (HEBS) to carry out research with CommunityPharmacists in relation to resource materials, to evaluate the materials andtheir use during National Smile Week. Within this document, we will recap onthe objectives of the project, detail our methodology, and consider thefindings of the research.