Abstract

Customers of pharmacies in conversations with their pharmacists, when asking for help in choosing a treatment, often refer to various symptoms, including depression. Communication with the pharmacists is an important factor in shaping the consumers’ health knowledge and behaviors. The aim of the study was to investigate specific characteristics of pharmacist - patient conversations during which patients refer to depressive symptoms. The questionnaire included questions addressing various independent factors related to the communicative situation which may affect the number and kind of reported depressive symptoms. The study participants were 60 pharmacists (with university level and postsecondary education). The results of the statistical analysis confirmed the hypotheses about differences in reported symptoms of depression. A hypothesis that the confidence of customers in their communication with the pharmacists increases with the age and education of the pharmacists was confirmed only in part. In addition, the results revealed that factors such as community size, number of pharmacies in a community and number of employees per work shift significantly correlate with more intensive communication of depressive symptoms.