With this presentation we would like to present the first findings resulting from an evaluative studyof the first three years of a participatory action research project entitled the Pharmacy-University study. The study involved internship pharmacies, pharmacy students and pharmacy practice researchers in Denmark.

The overall purpose of the project was to contribute to quality development of pharmacy practice and pharmacy practice research in the area of pharmaceutical care making the user perspective better integrated. The aim of the project was threefold:

• For pharmacies involved in the project: to describe and improve the pharmacies' advice to the patients.
• For pharmacy students: to become involved in the development of pharmaceutical care in the pharmacy, to gain insight into patients' perspectives on illness and medicines and to gain experience in doing research.
• For the researchers involved in the project: to implement and to evaluate participatory action research as a strategy for pharmacy practice research.

Description of the project

The project was carried out as an ongoing participatory action research project¹. Participatory action research involves the practitioners in the entire research process^{2 3}. The project was managed by a working group consisting of pharmacists from the internship pharmacies, pharmacy students involved in the project and pharmacy practice researchers from Department of Social Pharmacy and Pharmakon. 70-80 internship pharmacies and pharmacy students were encouraged to participate in the project. 44 pharmacies participated in 1999, 54 in 2000 and 28 in 2001. The working group (12-18 people) worked out the project plans, the data collection tools, the data analysis, the results and the dissemination. Pharmacy students were the local leaders of the project in their internship pharmacy. They introduced the project, presented the results and collected data for the project. Research interviews were carried out with the patients about their perceptions and actions in relation to their illness and medicines. The staff of the pharmacy completed a questionnaire about their knowledge and ideas for activities for the specific patient group. The differences between the staff and the patients' perspectives were presented and discussed with the staff of the pharmacy. Activities initiated in the pharmacy were reported back to the working group.

Evaluation

The overall evaluation will be finished in the spring of 2002. By using questionnaires and interviewing representatives of the staff and the proprietors of the internship pharmacies, we intend to answer the following questions:

• How did the pharmacies use/not use the project in the development of their practice towards pharmaceutical care practice?
• What where the advantages and disadvantages of the participatory action research design?

References

1. Haugbølle LS, Sørensen EW, Gundersen G, Petersen KH, Lorentzen L. Basing Pharmacy Councelling on the perspective of the angina pectoris patient. Accepted for publication in Pharm World Sci 2001;22(4):140-46.
2. Lave J and Wenger E 1991. Situated Learning - Legitimate peripheral participation. New York: Cambridge University Press.
3. Starrin B. Participatory Research - att skabe kunnskap tilsammens. In: Holmer J, Starrin B, eds. Deltagerorienterad forskning. Lund: Student litteratur, 1993.