Differences in learning styles, critical thinking skills, and peer evaluations between students with and without leadership engagement

Abstract

Introduction: Leadership has long been suggested as an attribute essential to the pharmacy profession. Academic pharmacy has identified and addressed the need for leadership development among student pharmacists. The objective of this study is to assess differences in learning styles, critical thinking skills, and peer-perceived leadership skill evaluations between those with vs. without student leadership engagement (SLE).

Methods: Four cohorts of pharmacy students were included in the analysis. Each student completed the Kolb Learning Style Inventory and Health Science Reasoning Test (HSRT) during pharmacy school orientation. Student-peer evaluation scores were derived from three courses and assessed important leadership skills such as communication, critical thinking, teamwork, and professionalism. Descriptive analysis was performed; group difference was tested using independent group t-tests on continuous variables and Fisher exact tests on categorical variables.

Results: This study included 205 pharmacy students from the Classes of 2018 to 2021; 63 students (31%) displayed SLE. No significant differences were found in the peer evaluation scores between students with and without SLE. Students with SLE showed significantly higher scores in domains of the HSRT and the overall HSRT score.

Conclusions: The study results showed that HSRT assessment of critical thinking skills was significantly higher in students engaging in leadership, suggesting that HSRT should be explored as a possible predictor for SLE in future studies.

Keywords: Leadership; Student leadership; Student leadership engagement.