Urgent need for pharmacy practice research into ethnicity issues
There is an urgent need for research to explore the needs, concerns and experiences of ethnic minority clients of pharmacies, say the authors of an article in this month's International
Journal of Pharmacy Practice (2003;11:183). Furthermore, whether or not these experiences
differ from those of the majority population needs to be established,
they say.
In their review of ethnicity and health issues, Dr Paul Bissell, lecturer
in social pharmacy and pharmacy practice at the University of Nottingham,
and colleagues from the Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences,
Copenhagen, issue a challenge to pharmacy practice researchers. “Ethnicity
and health ... represents a major public health concern. As yet, this
is more or less virgin territory for pharmacy practice research and we
strongly suggest that more sociologically informed research is needed
in this area.”
They comment that there is already a growing research base on the use
of general health services by ethnic minority groups.
However, they are critical of the way in which some general health services
research has been conducted. They suggest that by focusing on culture,
health professionals and policy makers have been able to address inequalities
between ethnic groups without considering problems such as poverty, deprivation,
discrimination and racism. “Such a focus blames individuals, pathologises
culture and fails to address what may be the more significant causes
of health differences,” they say.
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