(183) Pharmacy Students’ Self-Reported Cultural Competence in a Pharmacy Curriculum by Academic Year

Objective : This study aims to explore results of a Cultural Competency Assessment of Pharmacy Students (CCAPS) survey in the identification of improvement areas in cultural competence content in one college of pharmacy curriculum.

Methods: The CCAPS 39-item survey was developed and administered to Doctor of Pharmacy students from July through October 2022. Self-perception of cultural competency items were selected from the Cultural Competence Assessment Instrument and the Clinical Cultural Competency Questionnaire items. Responses were collected anonymously and analyzed in the aggregate by academic year using SPSS.

Results: Five hundred forty-one students participated. Ethnicities reported include White/European American (26.6%), East/South/Southeast Asian (17%, 18.5%, 5.4%), Arab/Middle Eastern (17.9%), African-American/Black (6.7%), and Hispanic (6.1%). Respondents (mean age 23.5 years) were majority female (69%) with pharmacy-related work experience (81%), spoke at least one additional language to English fluently (68%) and identified as religious (69%). Respondents reported gaining cultural competence from life experiences (73.3%), pharmacy classes (49.5%) and work or social media (42% each). Two-thirds respondents identified as “very or extremely” culturally competent, and 78% reported comfort interacting with culturally diverse patients. Students reporting no or limited experience interacting with culturally diverse patients decreased significantly from the first to final year (23% vs 5%, p=.001). Although final-year students reported the most sensitive to respecting differences between their patients’ cultures and their own (p=.004), they also reported lowest agreement that the program produces culturally competent graduates (p=.000).

Conclusions: Pharmacy students’ characteristics, including ethnic backgrounds and work experience, may have led to high self-reported cultural competence. Baseline data should be collected at entry of the pharmacy program and monitored annually to determine impact of curriculum, work, and life experience.