A Longitudinal Analysis of First Professional Year Pharmacy Student Well-Being

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2020

Description

Objective. To assess and characterize Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students’ well-being across the first professional year (P1) and determine the relationship between the number of examinations taken, student grade point average, and well-being scores.

Methods. All P1 students (N=76) enrolled at one college of pharmacy self-reported their career, community, financial, physical, social, and overall well-being on a weekly basis during the fall and spring semesters. Parametric statistical tests were used to examine the extent to which students’ well-being scores varied throughout the academic year, the extent to which their domain-specific well-being scores predicted overall well-being scores, and the association between their well-being scores and the number of examinations they had taken in a week and their grade point average.

Results. Overall and domain-specific well-being scores significantly decreased from the beginning to the end of fall semester. Students’ overall well-being across the academic year was most frequently predicted by their career well-being, physical well-being, and social well-being scores. Career, com-munity, physical, and overall well-being scores were significantly negatively associated with the number of examinations the students completed during the week. Students’ self-reported overall well-being during the fall semester was positively associated with their fall semester GPA.

Conclusion. Significant variation was found in students’ domain-specific and overall well-being across the P1 year. These findings can guide both the development and timing of school interventions to promote student well-being.

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