Exploring Young Adults' Experiences of Atopic Dermatitis Self‐Management and Use of Community Pharmacy: A Qualitative Study

TL;DR

This study explores how young adults manage atopic dermatitis independently and their limited awareness of community pharmacists as a support resource.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into young adults' unique challenges in managing atopic dermatitis and their underutilization of community pharmacy services.

Findings

Young adults face diverse challenges transitioning to self-management of atopic dermatitis.

Participants expressed concerns about symptoms and treatments affecting their self-management.

Young adults were unaware of community pharmacists as a source of health advice despite their potential role as prescribers.

Abstract

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a long‐term skin condition. Transitioning from parent‐dependant management to independent self‐management, means young adults may experience fluctuations in their care during transition period. However, little is known about the impact this transition has and support young adults receive. From 2026, community pharmacists (CPs) in the UK will be prescribers, a potential source of support for AD management for young adults. This study aimed to explore young adults' experiences of transitioning to self‐manage AD with particular emphasis on accessing CP support in self‐management.

One‐to‐one, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 25 young adults aged 18–24 years with AD in the UK. Data was analysed with iterative, inductive thematic analysis. Ethical approval was received before data collection.

Three themes were identified: (i) journey to self‐management which shows that transition to self‐management came with diverse and unique challenges, (ii) impact of concerns about AD and its treatments on self‐management where participants reported concerns about AD symptoms and treatments affecting self‐management, (iii) limited use of pharmacy for health advice, in which young adults described poor awareness of CPs as a source of information but as access to prescribed treatment, due to challenges seeing specialists.

Young adults with AD have unique needs and concerns during transition to self‐management. Young adults perceived CPs being able to prescribe could support continued access to prescribed treatments, but did not currently consider CPs as a source of advice. Further work is needed by policymakers and practitioners to improve awareness of CPs' skills and roles among young adults, which may help their concerns to be addressed in community pharmacies.

Lived experiences have been central to the development and design of this study. Listening to a family member's experiences of AD inspired the lead author to research young adults' AD management. The data collection process was informed by two people with AD whose advice was sought on how best to approach the topic with young adults and on the topic guide. Changes to wording were made in response to the comments from the two people with AD. Further, after each interview, each young adult participant was asked to give their feedback on the interview guide and how it could be further improved. All participants were happy with the questions and one participant suggested an additional question that had not been included in the topic guide previously. To help the interpretation of study findings informal discussions were conducted with young adults with and without AD. These young adults were not study participants.