The Relationship Between Student Engagement and Professionalism in Pharmacy Students

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between student engagement (as measured by the National Survey of Student Engagement benchmarks) and pharmacy student professionalism (as measured by the Pharmacy Professionalism Domain instrument) in first and third year pharmacy students at seven different schools of pharmacy. Engagement provides the conceptual framework. Data were analyzed from 1,405 first and third year pharmacy students at seven different schools of pharmacy during spring 2010. Factor validity of the scales was assessed using Structural Equation modeling and model fit was established at RMSEA .052. The parameter estimates suggest convergent and divergent validity of the instruments. Mean level differences in professionalism were found by year with higher means for third year students in all of the professionalism domains except Reliability, Responsibility, and Accountability. Among first year students, the Enriching Educational Experience benchmark was the most important predictor of professionalism. Among third year students, the Student-Faculty Interaction was the most important predictor of professionalism.