A narrative review: Pharmacy intervention fidelity.

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Practice
• Health Services Research
• Implementation Science

Background:

• Growing body of literature on community pharmacy interventions.
• Limited understanding of how intervention fidelity is reported in these studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the reporting of intervention fidelity measures in community pharmacy studies.
• Focus on depression and hypertension management in community and ambulatory care settings.

Main Methods:

• Narrative review of published manuscripts.
• Systematic search for studies on community pharmacist interventions in hypertension or depression.
• Independent evaluation of manuscripts for intervention training, structure, content, fidelity tools, and adherence.

Main Results:

• Low reporting rates for intervention training (2/6 depression, 9/19 hypertension).
• Limited use of tools to document fidelity (2/6 depression, 9/19 hypertension).
• Few studies measured adherence to protocol (2/6 depression, 6/19 hypertension).

Conclusions:

• Significant variability exists in reporting intervention fidelity measures.
• Mandatory reporting of key fidelity measures is recommended for publication.
• Improved reporting will enhance confidence in research findings and implications.