Objective. To examine perceived stress, coping strategies, and health-related quality of life in Doctor of Pharmacy students across the first three years (pre-clinical portion) of the curriculum. Methods. Three instruments, the Perceived Stress Scale, Brief COPE, and Short Form-36, were administered to students three times a year over a five-year period. Median annual scores were compared using Skillings-Mack tests and correlations were assessed using Spearman correlation. Results. One hundred forty-five students (approximately 46% of the school's enrollment) participated. A significant increase in scores on the PSS, increase in students' maladaptive coping behaviors, and worsening mental health-related quality of life were detected in students across the first three years of the pre-clinical curriculum. The PSS scores of first- and second-year pharmacy students had a moderate to large positive correlation with maladaptive coping behaviors (rho = 0.43 and 0.58, respectively) and PSS scores exhibited a large negative correlation with maladaptive coping behaviors in all three years of the pre-clinical curriculum (rho ranged from -0.69 to -0.78). Conclusion. Increasing levels of stress, increasing use of maladaptive coping strategies, and declining mental health-related quality of life among pharmacy students across the first three years of the four-year curriculum were very similar to findings in the cohort of pharmacy students observed in the preceding five years.
Keywords: adaptive coping; coping strategies; doctor of pharmacy students; health-related quality of life; maladaptive coping; perceived stress.
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