Development and Validation of a Questionnaire on Pharmacovigilance Knowledge among Health Professionals in Morocco

Background: Pharmacovigilance is one of the priority programs of the World Health Organization, with the aim of detecting the adverse effects of drugs. Morocco is one of the countries open to the world and was the first Arab and African country to participate in the international pharmacovigilance program. The purpose of this study is to develop and to validate a reliable and reasonable questionnaire, to measure knowledge and practices related to pharmacovigilance among health professionals in Morocco. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that took place between January and March 2018. The study was based on a questionnaire. Pharmacovigilance experts validated the questionnaire and the final instrument was applied to health professionals practicing in different hospitals in Morocco. The statistical validation of the questionnaire is based on the calculation of the Cronbach Coefficient Index and a factor analysis. Results: The study involved 262 health professionals, including 39% of physicians, 35% of pharmacists and 26% of nurses. The average age of the participants was 35.2 ± 8.4 years old. The Cronbach alpha value of the set of items was 0.7, similarly, the calculation of Cronbach’s alpha showed a homogeneity of the different dimensions of the questionnaire used this for knowledge (α = 0.6) and practices related to pharmacovigilance (α = 0.6). On the knowledge side, 65% of participants correctly answered the definition of pharmacovigilance, 81% were aware of its primary objective. We have noted that 52% of health workers, were aware of the existence of a national pharmacovigilance program in Morocco and 71% of the existence of the poison control center and pharmacovigilance of Morocco. The questionnaire has also shown that 28% of participants have reported an adverse reaction to the Poison Control and Pharmacovigilance Center of Morocco. Conclusion: Results showed that questionnaire is a well-structured, objective, valid and reliable in the Moroccan context, the questionnaire could be an instrument to assess knowledge and practice in Pharmacovigilance.