Perceptions of Nigerian final year undergraduate students of the adequacy of the pharmacy curriculum for mental health care

Abstract

Background There is growing concern about the adequacy of undergraduate curricula in schools of pharmacy worldwide regarding mental health. In Nigeria, both Bachelor and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees (BPharm and PharmD, respectively) are offered, but little is known about the scope of mental health care in either curriculum. Aim This study evaluated the perceptions of final year undergraduate students regarding the adequacy of the pharmacy curriculum in mental health care and their preparedness for a career in the field. Methods A pretested 33‐item questionnaire was administered to 950 (BPharm, n = 858; PharmD, n = 92) consecutively selected final year undergraduate students in the 19 accredited schools of pharmacy in Nigeria who had undergone experiential learning in teaching hospitals and community pharmacies and registered for the 2017–18 academic year. Results Most respondents (618/950; 65.1%) had no explicit learning on common mental disorders at the time of the study, and this did not differ significantly between the BPharm and PharmD respondents (p = 0.66). Most respondents (763/950; 80.3%) strongly disagreed or disagreed with the assertion that ‘the curriculum exposes students to real‐life mental health practice’. Furthermore, of the 932 that responded to the assertion that ‘pharmacy undergraduate curriculum prepares one adequately to practice mental health pharmacy’ 613 (65.8%) strongly disagreed or disagreed, with no significant difference between the PharmD and BPharm groups (p = 0.085). The respondents (460/950; 48.4%) would not specialise in mental health pharmacy, 38.0% (175/460) because they felt unprepared in terms of skills. Conclusion The respondents perceived the pharmacy curriculum as inadequate for mental health care and considered this inadequacy a hindrance towards its practice in Nigeria.

Towards improving community pharmacy-based mental health services in Nigeria

“…Furthermore, another study found a gross level of dissatisfaction among final year pharmacy students with the adequacy of their training to offer mental health services. This study, interestingly, included as participants, students from both the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) and Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) programs—which are the two extant pharmacy curricula in Nigeria [ 11 ].…”

Opinions and experiences on the provision of care to people with mental illnesses: a qualitative study with Doctor of Pharmacy graduates after a rotation in psychiatry

“…However, many felt it was insufficient, leaving them unprepared for practicing in a mental health facility or managing the diversity of mental illnesses presentations —both skill- and emotional-wise. Similarly, a study amongst Nigerian pharmacy students noted the majority of PharmD and BSc students felt the undergraduate curriculum did not adequately prepare them to manage mental health patients and reported that there was insufficient exposure to real practical experiences [ 13 ]. There are also reports in the literature on how these educational gaps have been addressed by some pharmacy schools, such as: including classroom instruction that foster better understanding of mental illnesses through in-depth discussions, sessions instructed by mental healthcare professionals, counselling sessions with simulated patients, and including interactions with mental health consumers [ 9 , 33 , 34 ].…”

“…While the authors deemed the rotation to have caused no major change on students’ social distance from patients with mental illness, they reported an overall improvement in the students’ attitudes towards schizophrenia, suicide prevention, and pharmaceutical care provision in this population [ 11 ]. More recently, similar studies conducted in the USA and Nigeria showed mixed findings on the benefits of mental health rotations on the students’ attitudes towards people with mental illnesses [ 12 , 13 ]. However, there is limited qualitative research on PharmD graduates’ opinions and perceived preparedness for the provision of pharmaceutical care to this population after completing a clinical rotation in psychiatry.…”

Qualitative interviews with Doctor of Pharmacy Graduates on Care Provision to Patients with Mental Illness after a Psychiatric Rotation

“…However, many felt they were still not prepared to practice in a mental health facility-both skill-wise and emotionally-wise. Similarly, a study in Nigerian pharmacy students noted the majority of PharmD and BSc students felt the undergraduate curriculum did not adequately prepare them to manage mental health pharmacy and did not provide enough exposure to real-life practice [30]. There are some reports in the literature on how these gaps have been addressed by other pharmacy schools, such as including classroom instruction that foster a deeper understanding of mental illness, and targeting pharmacy students' attitudes toward mental illness by including patients' experiences with mental illness via mental health consumers [9,31,32].…”