Longitudinal Cocurriculum Incorporating Professional Identity Formation and Well-being

Professional identity formation during the PharmD pathway is a gradual process influenced by multiple factors throughout the curriculum. The objective of this study is to assess student pharmacist and faculty advisor perceptions from 2019 to 2024 of the 4-year longitudinal cocurriculum (Exploring Leadership and Self-Awareness [ELSA]), incorporating professional identity formation and well-being.

The assessment was conducted on an annual basis using surveys assessing curriculum content and logistics with 3 domains and 19 items on a Likert scale of agreement and open-ended responses from first, second-, and third-year student pharmacists and pharmacy faculty at an institution.

Student feedback was mostly positive, with greater than 70% agreement regarding the ELSA curriculum design, content, and role of faculty advisors. In the overall survey, the first year pharmacy average of agreement was 91%, the second year pharmacy average of agreement was 86.6%, and the third year pharmacy average of agreement was 90.4%. Faculty survey results similarly reported high percentages of agreement (>56%) about student engagement and usefulness of ELSA content.

The longitudinal integrated ELSA co-curriculum contains a number of experiences that build self-awareness and personal and professional self-development. Feedback provided by students and faculty advisors reflects its positive impact and provides points for continuous quality improvement of the cocurriculum.