Exploring How Post-Millennial Pharmacy Students Balance Life Priorities and Avoid Situations Known to Deplete Resilience

Abstract

Objective. Students are facing increasing academic pressures, which can contribute to poor wellbeing. Current evidence on support services is weak. This study aimed to guide support initiatives by exploring students’ life priorities in terms of achieving balance and the strategies used to avoid resilience depletion.

Methods. Post-millennial, final-year pharmacy students (born after 1996) were introduced to the coaching concepts of the Wheel of Life and anti-goals. Students’ top eight life priorities were collected and categorized. Students were asked to submit one anti-goal targeting a strategy used to avoid resilience depletion. Anti-goals were coded according to student priority areas and overarching themes were interpreted.

Results. The top priorities of 110 final-year pharmacy students were: family, finance, health, friends/relationships, study, career prospects, fitness, personal growth, travel, and mental health/wellbeing. Priorities were both similar and dissimilar to traditional coaching priorities. Sixty-eight anti-goals were coded. The themes of ‘being prepared’ and ‘being present’ were strategies identified that students used to avoid resilience depletion.

Conclusion. Life priorities of newer student generations may be changing to be more individualistic and include a greater focus on self-help, while still maintaining core priorities of family, health, and finance. These findings support the notion that student support mechanisms must be modernized to accommodate students’ needs.