Employing the nominal group technique to explore the views of pharmacists, pharmacy assistants and women on community pharmacy weight management services and educational resources

Objectives The objectives of this study were to investigate how pharmacists, pharmacy assistants and women feel about community pharmacy involvement in weight management, and to identify what pharmacists, pharmacy assistants and women want in weight management educational resources. Methods Three homogenous and one heterogeneous nominal group (NG) sessions of up to 120-min duration were conducted with nine women, ten pharmacists and eight pharmacy assistants. The NG technique was used to conduct each session to determine the most important issues that should be considered surrounding community pharmacy weight management services and development of any educational resources. The heterogeneous NG session was used to finalise what women, pharmacists and pharmacy assistants want in educational resources. Key findings Overall, pharmacists, pharmacy assistants and women believe that pharmacy staff have an important role in the management of overweight and obesity because of their accessibility, trust and the availability of products in pharmacy. Regarding the most suitable healthcare professional(s) to treat overweight and obesity, the majority of participants believed that no one member of the healthcare team was most suitable and that overweight and obesity needs to be treated by a multidisciplinary team. The importance of having weight management educational resources for pharmacy staff and women that come from trustworthy resources without financial gain or commercialisation was also emphasised. Conclusion Pharmacists, pharmacy assistants and women feel that community pharmacies have a definite role to play in weight management. Pharmacy-specific weight management educational resources that are readily available to pharmacy staff and women are highly desirable.