Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Regarding Vitamin D and Dietary Supplements Use: A Community Pharmacy Based Cross-Sectional Study in Jazan, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Dietary supplements such as vitamins are widely used worldwide including Saudi Arabia. The present study was designed to assess community pharmacists’ knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding vitamin D and other dietary supplements. This cross-sectional study was conducted on representative samples of the community pharmacists (N = 246) in different areas in Jazan. The study utilized a validated anonymous questionnaire consisting of 25 questions to gather information. Approximately, 69.5% of the pharmacists were in the age group of 25–35 years (P = 0.000). Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed by using SPSS. The knowledge found in the participants was high, but there is no significant association with the demographic variables (P > 0.05). The attitude of the pharmacists toward vitamin D and dietary supplements was highly positive. A significant difference was found in the community pharmacists’ practice toward vitamin D and other dietary supplements with age (P = 0.043), position in the pharmacy (P = 0.009), and type of pharmacy (P = 0.038). This study showed that the pharmacists’ level of knowledge regarding vitamin D and other dietary supplements significantly correlated with their attitude (R² = 0.202, P = 0.000) and practice (R² = 0.122, P = 0.000). However, their knowledge, attitude, and practice are not in tandem with their educational qualification. Hence, more attention should be paid to continuing education and training of the pharmacists.