Türkiye'deki görme engelli yetişkinlerin eczacılık alanındaki ihtiyaçları

About this book

"The aim of this thesis is to identify the pharmaceutical needs of visually disabled individuals over the age of 18 in Turkey. A total of 287 adults who are blind or partially sighted and who are registered with organizations for visually impaired people in seven cities in Turkey (Antalya, Erzurum, Gaziantep, İstanbul, İzmir, Kayseri, Samsun) representing Turkey's seven geographical regions were randomly selected. A questionnaire was developed to cover the following subject areas: socio-demographic characteristics, cause and duration of visual disability, chronic disease involved, medication use, Braille literacy, telephone/Internet access, and use of high-tech devices. Recorded data were analyzed using SPSS 15.0 software and the variables were compared using the Chi-square test.... According to the survey results, 22.6 % of the participants have at least one chronic disease; 57.8 % directly consult pharmacists on health/medicine related issues; and 89.2 % buy their medications directly from community pharmacies either by themselves or with the help of an accompanying person. Among those who purchase their medicines from community pharmacies, 40.6 % assess pharmacist communications as good and 26.6 % as very good. There is a statistically significant relationship between these assessments and the cities in which the participants live. The most commonly used medication, at 70 % of participants, is painkillers and there is also a statistically significant relationship between painkiller use and education levels. In addition, 66.6 % of participants have difficulty using liquid-form medicines, while 39.7 % have trouble using eye drops. 22.3 % of participants use medication without consulting healthcare professionals and 27.9 % do not control the expiration dates of the medicines they use. A total of 64.1 % of the participants prefer to access drug information via telephone; 32.1 % via blind-friendly Web sites; 32.1 % via Braille printouts; 14.3 % via large print documents; and 10.1 % via CD or other voice recordings.... The following are needed for visually disabled adults in Turkey: reliable and economical health/pharmaceutical information resources that are accessible for blind and visually impaired people; specially trained health care professionals; physical accessibility to all health facilities, including community pharmacies; Braille embossing on all pharmaceutical packages; and high-tech devices to assist in the proper use of drugs. We have concluded that pharmaceutical services provided to visually disabled adults today in Turkey are unsatisfactory and that the use of Braille on pharmaceutical packages meets the needs of only a small portion of this group."--Abstract in English, p. 203-204.