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Abstract
Introduction Findings from the National College Health Assessment (2019) stated that anxiety and depression are the most prevalent diagnosed mental illnesses among Canadian postsecondary students with one-fifth of students self-reporting a lifetime diagnosis. Psychotropic medications can be an important component of a multifaceted approach to the management and treatment of mental illness and are the most commonly dispensed via community pharmacies. Community pharmacies provide an opportunity for pharmacists to have a prominent role in supporting patients’ psychotropic medication management. However, there has been limited exploration of how pharmacists can address patients’ psychotropic medication management needs, experiences and opportunities for improvements especially for emerging adults.
Methods and analysis This qualitative study will incorporate Thorne’s approach to interpretative description. Purposeful snowball sampling will be used to identify students (18–25 years) taking psychotropic medication(s) to manage their mental health. Participants will be interviewed one on one using a semistructured interview guide virtually. Inductive thematic analysis is underway with data analysis being iterative and reflexive using NVivo. Information provided from the interviews will be reviewed and summarised into key themes.
Ethics and dissemination This study was approved by the University of Toronto Health Sciences Research Ethics Board (REB #43185). It is expected that there will be a very low risk for mild psychological and social harm for participants as they will have the ability to stop the interview at any time and will be aware of confidentiality. The results from this study will be used to create or adapt healthcare team services including the role of pharmacists within the healthcare ecosystem at the university and contribute to developing the next stage of research to evaluate feasibility and effectiveness of programmes at the university that help postsecondary students to manage psychotropic medication.
- Patient-Centered Care
- QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
- Anxiety disorders
- MENTAL HEALTH
- Primary Health Care
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Footnotes
Contributors AM responsible for writing protocol, data collection, data analysis and ongoing research activities. LD responsible for providing direction and edits on protocol and ongoing research. BAS and KC responsible for providing guidance, comments and edits on protocol and ongoing research.
Funding Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto. Award/Grant number: NA. Inlight Student Mental Health Research Initiative. Award/Grant number: NA.
Competing interests AM acknowledges her position as a woman currently studying at the university. There is a possibility the interviewer may encounter a participant who are known prior to the interview. If there is a participant with whom the interviewer shares a relationship, that participant will be excluded from the study to remove biases.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research. Refer to the Methods and analysis section for further details.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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