Impact of a Well-being Promotion (WelPro) Training Program on APPE Conference Leaders

Abstract

Objective. The objective of this pilot study is to evaluate the attitudes and self-efficacy of Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) Conference Leaders (CLs) after completing the Well-being Promotion (WelPro) training program developed at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Pharmacy.

Methods. The WelPro training program was developed to equip CLs with the knowledge and tools to assist APPE students in distress and promote student wellness. After completing the WelPro training program, a 20-item survey was administered to ten CLs via a web-based survey tool Qualtrics (Qualtrics, Provo, UT) to assess their attitudes about burnout and self-efficacy in Assisting Students in Distress (ASD). Descriptive statistics were used to characterize attitudes and self-efficacy; Wilcoxon signed-rank and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for non-parametric ordinal data.

Results. Ten CLs participated in the training program. Nine CLs reported experiencing burnout in their careers and all believed burnout within the pharmacy profession could be avoidable. Confidence levels of CLs, after the WelPro training program, significantly improved in the following areas: identification of students in distress, identification of resources for students, and recognition of when and how to refer students in distress.

Conclusion. Increased self-efficacy of CLs to identify and assist students in distress could be translated into their improved ability to support students’ overall well-being. The WelPro training program can serve as a model for similar wellness training programs that directors and preceptors in experiential education can implement at their institutions.