The clinical autonomy of community pharmacists in England. 1. Designing and testing a survey instrument

Objective: To design and test an instrument for measuring variations in the extent to which community pharmacists perceive they can exercise autonomy in clinical settings. Method: To assist with the design of the instrument a focus group comprising practising community pharmacists from a variety of backgrounds was used. The group contributed ideas for 12 scenarios, based on critical incidents in community pharmacy, which comprise the core of the instrument, and a range of responses that reflect varying degrees of autonomy. Testing involved two pilot surveys in different areas of the UK and rigorous appraisal by the research team and focus group. Various refinements were subsequently made including simplification of the scale of responses and the addition of 'reality checks'. Key findings: Data from the two pilots provided evidence of variations in perceived autonomy between contractors, employees and locums. Conclusions: The instrument was deemed to meet the criteria of credibility; reliability, in terms of consistency; and criterion and construct validity and therefore was suitable for a full-scale survey which is reported in a second paper.