Knowledge, attitudes, practices, and implementation of Medication Therapy Management in Selected Cancer Care Centres...

Medication Therapy Management (MTM) remains poorly integrated into oncology care in many low-resource settings, including Kenya, where complex regimens and adverse medication events pose significant risks to patient safety. This study therefore aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of cancer patients, family caregivers, and healthcare professionals regarding MTM, and to evaluate the current implementation status, perceived barriers, and opportunities for MTM integration in Kenyan cancer centres.

A cross-sectional questionnaire study involving 450 participants, comprising patients (60.0%), family caregivers (24.9%), and healthcare professionals (15.1%) was conducted across four cancer care centres from February 2024 to January 2025. Patient eligibility, including confirmed malignancy, was verified by attending clinicians through medical record review.

Despite 91.8% of participants regarding MTM as beneficial, only 24.6% demonstrated understanding of the service. Active MTM availability was low, with 86.9% reporting services as unavailable and 67.2% of professionals estimating utilization below 20%. Major implementation barriers included inadequate funding (68.9%), staffing shortages (60.7%), and low awareness (55.7%). Conversely, 88.5% of participants believed MTM would improve adherence and reduce toxicities. Support for scale-up was robust, with high willingness to participate in education (93.4%) and strong advocacy for increased financing (62.3%) and awareness initiatives (55.7%).

A significant disconnect exists between the high perceived value of MTM and its limited operationalization in Kenyan cancer care. Bridging this gap requires strategic investment in workforce capacity, sustainable financing, competency-based training, and digitally enabled delivery models to institutionalize medication safety.