PLOS ONE Medicine&Health

Predictors of community pharmacists’ readiness to implement deprescribing of inappropriate medications for older adults in Qatar

by Marwa Elshazly, Sondus Jawad, Ayesha Ahmed, Hager ElGeed, Kazeem Babatunde Yusuff

There is a paucity of studies focused on the predictors of community pharmacists’ readiness to deprescribe inappropriate medications for older adults especially in developing settings. The study aimed to use the situational theory of leadership to determine community pharmacists’ readiness to implement deprescribing of inappropriate medications for older adults, and as well as its significant predictors. A theory-driven cross-sectional assessment of the readiness (knowledge and confidence) of 252 community pharmacists was conducted in Qatar with a pre-tested 40-item questionnaire. Knowledge and confidence were assessed with a 2-point and 4-point Likert-type scale respectively. The maximum obtainable score for readiness was 16. Readiness was categorized as high (≥ median) or low (