Pharmacists' perceptions and delivery of health behaviour change recommendations: Mapping the COM-B model

Pharmacists are trusted and accessible healthcare professionals who are well-positioned to deliver brief health behaviour change technique-based interventions for chronic health conditions. However, little is known about the factors influencing pharmacists' use of behaviour change techniques and their capacity to deliver these interventions within community pharmacy. This study employed the COM-B model to explore the factors that explain pharmacists' delivery of behaviour change techniques in practice. A secondary objective was to ascertain whether capability, opportunity, and motivation are associated with and explain significant variance in the use of behaviour change techniques during patient interactions. Two-hundred and eleven Australian pharmacists (mean age = 36.1, SD = 10.7) completed a survey on their capability, opportunity, and motivation to deliver behaviour change techniques, and their delivery and frequency of use in practice. Most pharmacists (91.3%) use behaviour change techniques during patient interactions. Results from a simple linear regression showed that a composite COM score was associated with pharmacists' behaviour change technique use F(1,195) = 47.12, β = 0.44, 95 % CI [0.09, 0.16], p