Investigation of factors affecting ethical decision-making process of community pharmacists in professional life

Miray Arslan; Nilay Tarhan; Selin Kalender; Sevgi Şar

Investigation of factors affecting ethical decision-making process of community pharmacists in professional life

Abstract

Ethics is defined as questioning the practice of moral standards and whether moral standards are logical or not. The struggle to determine the rules that should be followed by those who demonstrate activities in a particular field and the ethical principles of practice that is specific to it reveal the concept of professional ethics. The principles of professional ethics, is very important for a profession, have become more attractive in the field of pharmacy as it is in every field. In this regard, pharmacists need to consider the professional ethical principles in relation to their patients, colleagues or other employees. This study aims to determine the perceptions of community pharmacists about professional ethics through a sample case can be encountered in a pharmacy. In this context, the prepared questionnaire, consists of 24 questions, was conducted to randomly select 150 community pharmacists face to face in Ankara. The obtained data were statistically analyzed via SPSS 18.0 package program. Firstly, descriptive statistical analyzes were performed and followed by exploratory factor analysis (EFA). As a result of EFA four factors are obtained as: “financial and legal pressure”, “patient benefit”, “colleague pressure”, and “patient confidence”. These factors explained 68.033% of the total variance. t-test and ANOVA were used to determine the effects of demographics of pharmacists on the factors. Obtained results are of great importance in determining the perceptions of pharmacists regarding professional ethics. Knowing the factors affecting the pharmacist's behavior in accordance with the professional ethics will shed light on community pharmacy practices.

Keywords

References

[1] Selimoğlu SK. Muhasebede Meslek Ahlakı (Etik) Yaklaşımı, III. Türkiye Muhasebe Denetim Sempozyumu Bildiri Kitabı. İstanbul: İSMMMO Yay. No:20, 30 Nisan- Mayıs, 1997, pp.145-46.
[2] Kutlu HA. Ethical Dilemmas of Professional Accountants: A Research (article in Turkish with an abstract in English). Ankara Üniversitesi SBF Dergisi. 2008; 63(2): 143-170. [CrossRef]
[3] Smith LM, Smith KT. Accounting Information Systems, Houston TX: Dame Publication Inc., 1987.
[4] Welna EM, Hadsall RS, Schommer JC. Pharmacists’ personal use, professional practice behaviors, and perceptions regarding herbal and other natural products, J Am Pharm Assoc. 2003; 43(5): 602-611.
[5] Donohue JM, Huskamp HA, Wilson IB, Weissman J. Whom do older adults trust most to provide information about prescription drugs? Am J Geriatr Pharmacother. 2009; 7(2): 105-116.
[6] Simmons-Yon A, Roth MT, Kavalieratos MVu, Weinberger DM, Rao JK. Understanding pharmacists’ experiences with advice-giving in the community pharmacy setting: a focus group study, Patient Educ Couns. 2012; 89(3): 476-483.
[7] Tarhan N, Arslan M, Şar S. A structural equation model for pharmacy students’ acquiring knowledgebased behavior towards complementary and alternative medicine. Eur J Integ Med. 2017; 16: 54-60. [CrossRef]
[8] Al-Arifi MN. Community pharmacist perception and attitude toward ethical issues at community pharmacy setting in central Saudi Arabia. Saudi Pharm J. 2014; 22(4): 315-325. [CrossRef]

[9] Rodríguez JV, Juricic Z. Perceptions and attitudes of community pharmacists toward professional ethics and ethical dilemmas in the workplace. Res Social Adm Pharm. 2018; 14(5): 441-450. [CrossRef]
[10] Chaar BB. Professional ethics in pharmacy practice: developing a psychiatric measure of moral reasoning. Pharm World Sci. 2009; 31(5): 439-49. [CrossRef]
[11] Wingfield J, Bissell P, Anderson C. The scope of pharmacy ethics-an evaluation of the international research literature, 1990–2002. Soc Sci Med. 2004; 58(12): 2383-96. [CrossRef]
[12] Crnjanski T, Krajnovic D, Tadic I, Stojkov S, Savic M. An Ethical Issue Scale for Community Pharmacy Setting (EISP): Development and Validation. Sci Eng Ethics. 2016; 22(2): 497-508. [CrossRef]
[13] Ryan TG, Bisson J. Can Ethics Be Taught? Int J Bus Soc Sci. 2011; 2(12): 44-52.
[14] Sharif PS, Javadi M, Asghari F. Pharmacy ethics: evaluation pharmacists’ ethical attitude. J Med Ethics Hist Med. 2011; 4(5).
[15] Latif DA. An assessment of the ethical reasoning of United States pharmacy students: a national survey. Am J Pharm Educ. 2004; 68(2): article 30.
[16] Ajzen I, Fishbein M. Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall; 1980.
[17] Ajzen I. The theory of planned behavior. Organ Behav Hum Decis Process. 1991; 10: 179-211.
[18] Yıldız G. Professional Ethics in Accounting Profession and an Application Center of Kayseri (article in Turkish with an abstract in English). Erciyes Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi. 2010; 36: 155-178.
[19] Kocabacak S. A Research Related to Problems of Community Pharmacies in Turkey (article in Turkish with an abstract in English). Hacettepe Sağlık İdaresi Dergisi. 2011; 1(2): 95-124.
[20] TITCK (Türkiye İlaç ve Tıbbi cihaz Kurumu). http://www.titck.gov.tr/PortalAdmin/Uploads/UnitPageAttachment/c1cfd8dc10483.pdf (accessed April 26, 2018).

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Pharmacy Management

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Miray Arslan ^*
Türkiye

Nilay Tarhan
Türkiye

Selin Kalender This is me
Türkiye

Sevgi Şar
Türkiye

Publication Date

June 27, 2025

Submission Date

February 28, 2018

Acceptance Date

May 9, 2018

Published in Issue

Year 2019 Volume: 23 Number: 1

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA76KC68YP

Cite

RIS / Bibtex

APA

Arslan, M., Tarhan, N., Kalender, S., & Şar, S. (2025). Investigation of factors affecting ethical decision-making process of community pharmacists in professional life. Journal of Research in Pharmacy, 23(1), 141-146. https://izlik.org/JA76KC68YP

AMA

1.Arslan M, Tarhan N, Kalender S, Şar S. Investigation of factors affecting ethical decision-making process of community pharmacists in professional life. J. Res. Pharm. 2025;23(1):141-146. https://izlik.org/JA76KC68YP

Chicago

Arslan, Miray, Nilay Tarhan, Selin Kalender, and Sevgi Şar. 2025. “Investigation of Factors Affecting Ethical Decision-Making Process of Community Pharmacists in Professional Life”. Journal of Research in Pharmacy 23 (1): 141-46. https://izlik.org/JA76KC68YP.

EndNote

Arslan M, Tarhan N, Kalender S, Şar S (June 1, 2025) Investigation of factors affecting ethical decision-making process of community pharmacists in professional life. Journal of Research in Pharmacy 23 1 141–146.

IEEE

[1]M. Arslan, N. Tarhan, S. Kalender, and S. Şar, “Investigation of factors affecting ethical decision-making process of community pharmacists in professional life”, J. Res. Pharm., vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 141–146, June 2025, [Online]. Available: https://izlik.org/JA76KC68YP

ISNAD

Arslan, Miray - Tarhan, Nilay - Kalender, Selin - Şar, Sevgi. “Investigation of Factors Affecting Ethical Decision-Making Process of Community Pharmacists in Professional Life”. Journal of Research in Pharmacy 23/1 (June 1, 2025): 141-146. https://izlik.org/JA76KC68YP.

JAMA

1.Arslan M, Tarhan N, Kalender S, Şar S. Investigation of factors affecting ethical decision-making process of community pharmacists in professional life. J. Res. Pharm. 2025;23:141–146.

MLA

Arslan, Miray, et al. “Investigation of Factors Affecting Ethical Decision-Making Process of Community Pharmacists in Professional Life”. Journal of Research in Pharmacy, vol. 23, no. 1, June 2025, pp. 141-6, https://izlik.org/JA76KC68YP.

Vancouver

1.Miray Arslan, Nilay Tarhan, Selin Kalender, Sevgi Şar. Investigation of factors affecting ethical decision-making process of community pharmacists in professional life. J. Res. Pharm. [Internet]. 2025 Jun. 1;23(1):141-6. Available from: https://izlik.org/JA76KC68YP