Biambo, AA

2 Publications in AERD

Author Publications

Perceived stress and its predictors, stressors and coping strategies among undergraduate pharmacy students in northern Nigeria

By Okoro, RN

Introduction: Pharmacy education may be associated with stress due to the nature of its curriculum and expectations of high-quality services from students on graduation. This study evaluated perceived stress and its predictors, stressors, and coping strategies among undergraduate pharmacy students in northern Nigeria. Methods: This was a prospective longitudinal study conducted at three randomly selected pharmacy schools in northern Nigeria. The validated 10 item Perceived Stress Scale was used to assess participant stress at the beginning (Time(1)) and middle (Time(2)) of the semester. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, a paired sample t-test, point-biscrial correlations, and multivariate linear regression at P < .05. Results: The stress scores at Time(1) and Time(2) of the 866 participants were 18.3 +/- 6.0 and 19.3 +/- 5.4, respectively. Most participants at both Time(1) and Time(2) had moderate stress (76.6% and 79.6%, respectively). The multivariate regression analyses revealed gender, marital status, year of study, and access to education funds as significant predictors of stress. Major stressors identified were academic-related (76.3%) and environment-related (24.6%). Time management (69.6%) and relaxation (46.1%) were the major coping strategies. Conclusions: Moderate stress was observed among the majority of participants. Identified predictors of stress, stressors, and coping mechanisms were similar to those previously reported in other countries. Although most pharmacy students adopt positive strategies to mitigate stress, pharmacy educators should further adopt holistic initiatives to help students reduce their stress. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Pharmacy graduates' perceptions of competency, integration, and social accountability in the undergraduate curriculum of pharmacy schools in Nigeria

By Saka, SA

Introduction: An integrated, competency-based curriculum that fosters social accountability including cultural sensitivity among graduates is an educational strategy towards producing practice-ready professionals. This study aimed to evaluate pharmacy graduates' perceptions of competency, integration, and social accountability in the undergraduate curriculum of Nigerian schools of pharmacy. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey consisting of a 42-item questionnaire was administered to 467 purposively selected pharmacy graduates who completed their undergraduate training between January 2012 and February 2020 from 20 accredited Nigerian pharmacy schools. MannWhitney U test was used to determine the differences in the participants' responses on a Likert scale. Results: Of 467 participants, 54.4% felt that the Nigerian undergraduate pharmacy curriculum was not adequate in content, while 54.2% felt the courses in the curriculum were not well integrated to facilitate easy learning by students. About half (50.6%) strongly agreed or agreed that the basic pharmacy courses are well synchronized with the clinical components but 28.9% strongly disagreed or disagreed. The majority (88%), with no significant difference between gender (z = -1.615, P = .11), strongly agreed or agreed that they apply knowledge of clients' culture and disparity to deliver pharmaceutical services. Conclusions: Marginally above half of the graduates perceived the Nigerian undergraduate pharmacy curriculum to be deficient in course content. There is evidence of limited integration and social accountability in the curriculum. Cultural sensitivity appears to be a component of the curriculum but this needs to be properly structured. The pedagogy strategy for learning cultural sensitivity should be further interrogated.

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