(172) Influence of Attitude and Behavior Scales on First Semester Pharmacy School Performance

Objective : To determine how pre-pharmacy characteristics and attitude and behavior scales relate to first semester pharmacy school performance.

Methods: Pre-pharmacy characteristics for first year pharmacy students in the class of 2027 at a single institution were collected. Students completed the Grit-Grid Survey, Academic Pharmacy Resilience Scale (APRS), Cohen Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Self Compassion Scale (SCS) at the beginning of pharmacy school. First semester grade point average (GPA) and average percentage grades for all courses were also collected. Correlation analysis was performed to identify associations between pre-pharmacy characteristics, attitude and behavior scales, and academic performance.

Results: A total of 83 students were included in the analysis. Average semester GPA was 2.92 ± 0.77 and average percentage grade for all first semester courses was 86.5 ± 8.0%. Pre-pharmacy attributes, encompassing math and science GPA, cumulative GPA, and age, displayed modest, significant correlations with first-semester pharmacy school GPA (ranging from 0.223 to 0.512, p<.05). Conversely, the Grit-Grid Survey, APRS, Cohen PSS, and the SCS demonstrated very weak, non-significant correlations with first-semester GPA (ranging from 0.096 to 0.177, p>.05). Similar correlations were observed for average percentage grades; however, APRS scores had a moderate correlation with average percentage grades (r=0.340, p=.009).

Conclusions: The most influential indicators of academic performance were the cumulative pre-pharmacy GPA and math and science GPA. Attitude and behavior scale scores did not correlate with indicators of academic performance except for APRS scores and average percentage grades. Future investigations could explore the potential benefit of attitude and behavior scales in guiding students who encounter challenges in their coursework.