Objectives
While much research supports undergraduate research experiences, how these experiences contribute to pharmacy students' belonging is less clear. The current study describes early career pharmacists' sense of belonging across the classroom and research settings.
Methods
An explanatory mixed-methods (quant+QUAL) study was conducted involving early-career pharmacists who conducted research while pursuing their PharmD. Participants completed Likert-scale surveys assessing their sense of belonging across classroom and research settings, followed by interviews. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare responses across settings. A framework analysis was used to inductively identify qualitative themes explaining their assessments, which were mapped onto four components of an integrated belonging framework, including: competencies, opportunities, motivations, and perceptions.
Results
Of our 30 participants (21 female), 15 felt closer in the research settings, 6 felt closer in the classroom setting, and the remaining 9 felt equally close across settings. Participants' quantitative assessments of belonging did not strongly differ across settings. The inductive qualitative themes mapped onto motivation largely reflected experiences in the research setting, while those mapped onto perceptions largely reflected the classroom. For the competencies component, participants believed their competencies grew more in the research setting. For opportunities, participants positively reflected on the relationships they formed across both settings.
Conclusions
Research experiences can influence belonging. The degree of influence, however, depends on socially negotiated factors. To meet diverse student needs, the present study encourages colleges of pharmacy to create opportunities for students to engage in research to help them feel more connected to their education.
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