Year: 2019
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Objective: To survey the level of pharmacy professionalism, and to analyze the relationship between professional socialization and pharmacy professionalism among Thai pharmacy students. Methods: Self-administered questionnaires were used as the research instrument. Face validity was assessed by three experts. A pilot study was conducted on 61 pharmacy students. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used as the measure of instrument reliability. The questionnaires were disseminated to pharmacy students throughout the country between July 2010 and May 2011. Multiple regression was utilized to analyze the relationship between professional socialization and pharmacy professionalism. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Results: A total of 1,443 usable questionnaires were received (57.7% response rate). The overall pharmacy professional scores among students was 171.1±14.9 from the possible scores of 42-210, indicating moderate to high professionalism level. The highest score was found in “belief in public service” domain, followed by “belief in continuing education”, “the use of professional organization as a major referent”, “belief in self-regulation”, “belief in autonomy” and “professional commitment” with the lowest score. Professional socialization was positively correlated with overall pharmacy professionalism (r=0.585, p<0.001). Interaction with preceptors, interaction with peers, out-of-classroom interaction with faculty, perception about faculty concerns, and academic and social growth together accounted for 35.4% of the variability in overall pharmacy professionalism. Conclusion: Thai pharmacy students scored highest in belief in public service domain, compared to other domain of pharmacy professionalism. Professional commitment, on the contrary, was scored the least. Professional socialization was a very important predictor of pharmacy professionalism among students. For this reason, pharmacy schools are recommended to place emphasis on such process, along with formal education according to the curriculum.
Institution: Naresuan University
Language: Thai
Subfield: Pharmacy
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
Funder: Naresuan University
OpenAlex ID: W7216654197