Instead of having the subjects come to a pharmacy, the pharmacists came to the participants' churches.

Holding the one-on-one discussions at churches allowed people to come to an "emotionally safe, familiar and private environment, instead of the sometimes chaotic setting of a doctor's office or pharmacy," said Gerald Cable, a study co-author and a clinical assistant professor of pharmacy at Ohio State University.

"We weren't surprised at the extent of correctable medication problems we found," he said. "However, we were surprised that the participants were so willing to talk with us about these problems." More than half of the participants had kept medication past its expiration date, and nearly half reported that they had experienced adverse drug reactions.

But the intervention sessions seemed to help, as subjects reported using less medication during the six months after the one-on-one meeting than in the six months prior to the session.

"We hope that's a reflection of increased communication between the study participants an
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Contact: Gerald Cable
Cable.1@osu.edu
614-292-2492
Ohio State University
3-Jun-2002