(276) Assessment and Action-Planning for School of Pharmacy Student Well-Being Initiatives

Objective : The goal of this study was to evaluate the well-being needs of students in the School of Pharmacy (SOP) and to assess the value of current well-being initiatives.

Methods: The Well-Being Committee at the University of Kansas SOP was formed in 2019 and is comprised of faculty and student members. The committee determined it would be beneficial to survey the student body regarding well-being. All pharmacy students (P1-P4) were invited to participate in an IRB approved anonymous online Qualtrics survey. The survey assessed personal well-being (housing/food stability, support systems, and overall well-being), participation in past well-being activities, and how the SOP could help to improve their well-being.

Results: A total of 149 students (response rate 35.4%) accessed the survey . Overall, 93.8% of students reported experiencing difficult emotions (such as feeling anxious, depressed, or irritable) due to classes/school over the past semester. Students rated their overall well-being as mean 5.31 (st dv 2.13) on a scale of 0-10, where 0=very poor (tired, sad, run down), 5=okay (doing okay, but more on your plate than ideal), 10=excellent (happy, hardly any complaints or concerns in life). Well-being initiatives with the highest student participation were reading the Well-Being Newsletter (n=53) and partaking in snacks during finals week (n=99). Events involving more active participation (step challenge, bingo) had lower attendance. A common theme for improving students’ well-being focused on spacing out exams to avoid multiple exams on the same/consecutive days.

Conclusions: Almost all students experienced difficult emotions related to being in pharmacy school. Additional strategies and initiatives are needed to promote well-being for all students so that they can be successful in pharmacy school.