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American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2012; 76 (3) Article 39.an understanding of US pharmacy degree earners’ perceptions of commonly pursued postgraduate training paths(residencies, fellowships, and graduate school) is crucialto addressing the faculty shortage given that postgraduatetraining is a prerequisite for faculty appointment. Research has been conducted that has examined perceivedbarriers to pursuance of postgraduate training and academic careers.18-24 However, an inherent assumption ineach of these studies was that respondents had sufficientexposure to postgraduate training/academia to accuratelyindicate and/or rate barriers to pursuance.Ideally, pharmacy graduates should have adequateinformation regarding and exposure to numerous careerpaths to enable informed decision making about employment and postgraduate training paths. The extent to whichadequate career exploration is occurring in pharmacy colleges and schools is unknown. Hagemeier and Newton13conducted a study of student perceptions of exposure tograduate school and research and found that increasedexposure to graduate school, research-related fields, andpharmacy faculty careers was warranted. However, thestudents were enrolled in the second or third year ofpharmacy school at the time and may have been exposedto postgraduate training at some point after completionof the study.The purpose of the current study was to determinethe perceptions of junior pharmacy faculty members withUS pharmacy degrees regarding their exposure to residency, fellowship, and graduate school training whilethey were completing pharmacy school. Perceptions ofcareer exposure and exposure to research were alsosought. Specifically, perceptions of academicians whohad completed pharmacy school in the recent past (asdefined by assistant professor status) were sought inan effort to inform career exploration and postgraduatetraining recruitment efforts in colleges and schools ofpharmacy.pharmacy faculty careers and research-related fields,(4) awareness of postgraduate training-specific careers,and (5) perceptions regarding the extent to which faculty members perceived themselves to possess the skillsnecessary to complete postgraduate training paths at theconclusion of pharmacy school. Demographic items werealso included in the survey instrument.Prior to conducting the national study, an expertpanel review and pilot study were conducted at PurdueUniversity. Significant changes were not made to the survey items included in this analysis other than the additionof a “not applicable” response. The sampling frame forthe national study was a database obtained from the AACPof 2,700 assistant professors at colleges and schools ofpharmacy. Assistant professors were targeted to gatherperceptions of individuals who had pursued postgraduate training in the relatively recent past as compared toassociate or full professors. The sample consisted of thesampling frame minus faculty members at institutionsoutside the United States included in the AACP database, and minus individuals who did not have e-mailaddresses included in the AACP database and for whome-mail addresses could not be located. Therefore, thesample to which an initial contact e-mail was sent consisted of 2,634 assistant professors.Prior to instrument administration, institutional review board approval was granted by Purdue University.A mixed-mode Tailored Design Method involving 3 contacts was used to recruit pharmacy faculty members toparticipate in the study.25 After sending a pre-notificatione-mail, faculty members were recruited via 2 personalizede-mails with links to the online survey instrument anda final paper-based mailing that included a cover letter,the survey instrument, and a stamped, self-addressed return envelope. Identification numbers were assigned tofaculty members and used strictly to remove individualswho had returned survey instruments after previous mailings. Qualtrics survey software (Qualtrics, Inc., Provo, UT)was used to construct the survey instrument and to collectonline survey responses.Data were analyzed using PASW/SPSS version 18.0(IBM Corp; Armonk, NY). Descriptive statistics were calculated for all items. An a priori significance level ofa 5 0.05 used. In addition to individual item analysisacross professor demographic characteristics, exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the items. Priorto performing exploratory factor analysis, factorability ofthe items was examined and items were recoded to omit“not applicable” responses. The correlation matrices wereexamined, and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy was determined for each item and for theinstrument as a whole. The squared multiple correlationsMETHODSNineteen survey items were constructed by the authors based on previous research and included as a section of a larger survey instrument administered in spring2011.13 Item responses used a 5-point Likert-type scaleranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. A response of “not applicable” was also included to captureinstances in which faculty members had no experiencewith the item topic. Items were developed to assess faculty members’ perceptions while they were completingtheir pharmacy degree regarding 5 primary areas: (1) theinterest displayed by faculty members in various postgraduate training paths, (2) the extent to which professorsdisplayed interest in research, (3) perceived exposure to2

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2012; 76 (3) Article 39.Table 1. Faculty Member Demographic Characteristics (n 5726)were used as estimates of the communality of the items (ie,the diagonals of the correlation matrix). A factor loadingcutoff of 0.4 was implemented. Furthermore, a minimumfactor loading difference of 0.2 on other factors was alsonecessary to allow inclusion of a variable as a representative item for a factor on which it loaded.26 The Kaisercriterion, Catell’s scree test, and interpretability of thedata were used to evaluate the number of factors to retainfrom the exploratory factor analysis.27,28Cronbach alphas of greater than or equal to 0.7 weredesired in the study.28 Item-subscale correlations werecalculated to examine the correlation of each item withthe rest of the items included in the subscale. Data wereconsidered approximately interval. Normality and homogeneity of variance were assessed by examination ofitem histograms, item variances, and the Shapiro-Wilktest of significance. The type of rotation used in the exploratory factor analysis was chosen to reflect the extentto which the data were normally distributed. Item responses were summed and divided by the total numberof items representing each factor to produce a factorscore. The factor scores were then compared acrossdemographic variables using Pearson correlations andone-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques withpost-hoc Tukey tests.VariableGenderFemaleMaleEthnicityAfrican AmericanAmerican IndianAsianCaucasianHispanicPacific IslanderOtherInstitution typePrivatePublicDepartmentMedicinal chemistryPharmaceuticsPharmacologyPharmacy practiceSocial/behavioralOtherProfessorial rankAssistantAssociateFullOtherLevel of postgraduate trainingPost-BS PharmDResidencyFellowshipMaster’s degreeDoctoral degreeAge in years, Mean (SD)Years at current rank, Mean (SD)RESULTSThere were 1,148 usable responses (response rate of48.1%). Taking into consideration undeliverable e-mailsand paper-based survey instruments, and return e-mailsindicating individuals should be excluded from the study(absence of postgraduate training), the adjusted responserate for the study was 50.3%. Whereas only individualswho had earned a US pharmacy degree were asked torespond to the 19 items presented in this manuscript, thenumber of usable responses for purposes of this manuscript ranged from 723 to 735 per item. Demographiccharacteristics of faculty member respondents are presented in Table 1. A majority (65.4%) of respondents werefemale, Caucasian (79.0%), residency trained (63.7%), andmembers of pharmacy practice departments (89.6%). Themean age of study respondents was 35.7 years.Response frequencies for the 19 survey items arepresented in Table 2. The extent to which “not applicable”was indicated for the items ranged from 0 to 26.8%. Threeitems asked respondents to indicate the extent to whichthey agreed/disagreed with statements regarding theinterest in postgraduate training paths displayed by professors. Eighty-seven percent of respondents agreed/strongly agreed that professors made residencies soundinteresting, whereas 43% indicated the same was truefor fellowship training and graduate school training.No. (%)475 (65.4)251 (2.1)310 (42.7)416 (63.7)(7.4)(11.8)(8.8)(8.8)(3.5)Approximately the same percentage (44%) of respondents indicated professors in the pharmacy curriculummade research sound interesting.Approximately 57% of respondents agreed/stronglyagreed that the pharmacy curriculum provided sufficientexposure to pharmacy faculty careers at their institutionsof study. The extent to which respondents agreed witha similar statement specific to faculty careers outside oftheir institution was 36%. Similarly, 32% of respondentsagreed/strongly agreed that the pharmacy curriculum provided sufficient exposure to research-related fields. Approximately 58% of respondents agreed/strongly agreedthat they were aware of postgraduate opportunities offered at institutions other than the institution from whichthey graduated.3

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2012; 76 (3) Article 39.Table 2. Pharmacy Faculty Members’ Exposure to Postgraduate Training and Academic Career Opportunities During PharmacySchool, N 5 735aNo. (%)ItemStronglyNotDisagreeApplicable1Professors with graduate degrees in the professional109 (14.9) 43 (5.9)curriculum made graduate school sound interestingProfessors with fellowship training in the professional 196 (26.8) 41 (5.6)curriculum made fellowship training soundinterestingProfessors with residency training in the professional49 (6.7) 11 (1.5)curriculum made residency training sound interestingProfessors in my pharmacy school courses made40 (5.5) 40 (5.5)research sound interestingMy pharmacy school professors expressed interest in21 (2.9) 16 (2.2)students pursuing postgraduate education andskilldevelopmentThe pharmacy curriculum provided me sufficient19 (2.6) 39 (5.3)exposure to pharmacy faculty careers at myinstitutionThe pharmacy curriculum provided me sufficient27 (3.8) 77 (10.7)exposure to pharmacy faculty careers outsidemy institutionThe pharmacy curriculum provided me sufficient20 (2.8) 76 (10.5)exposure to research-related fieldsAt the conclusion of pharmacy school. . .I was aware of career opportunities residency training1 (0.1) 17 (2.3)would provideI was aware of career opportunities fellowship training4 (0.5) 53 (7.2)would provideI was aware of career opportunities graduate school4 (0.5) 51 (6.9)would provide020 (2.7)I had the knowledge necessary to make an informeddecision whether or not to consider residency trainingas a career option3 (0.3) 62 (8.4)I had the knowledge necessary to make an informeddecision whether or not to consider fellowshiptraining as a career optionI had the knowledge necessary to make an informed4 (0.5) 58 (7.9)decision whether or not to consider graduate schoolas a career optionI had the knowledge necessary to make an informed1 (0.1) 40 (5.4)decision whether or not to consider pharmacyacademia as a career optionI had the skills necessary to successfully complete05 (0.7)residency trainingI had the skills necessary to successfully complete16 (2.2) 12 (1.7)fellowship trainingI had the skills necessary to successfully complete14 (1.9)6 (0.8)graduate school1 (0.1) 67 (9.3)I was aware of postgraduate opportunities offered atinstitutions other than the institution from whichI graduatedaDisagree2Neutral3StronglyAgree5125 (17.1) 186 (25.4) 192 (26.3)76 (10.4)82 (11.2) 182 (24.9) 169 (23.2)60 (8.2)19 (2.6)62 (8.5)246 (33.7) 343 (47.0)153 (20.9) 196 (26.8) 213 (29.1)40 (5.5)89 (12.2)98 (13.4) 298 (40.8) 258 (35.3)146 (20.0) 123 (16.8) 251 (16.8) 153 (20.9)203 (28.2) 160 (22.3) 162 (22.5)90 (12.5)230 (31.7) 172 (23.7) 167 (23.0)61 (8.4)41 (5.6)51 (6.9)350 (47.5) 277 (37.6)193 (26.2) 183 (24.8) 231 (31.3)73 (9.9)204 (27.7) 158 (21.4) 241 (32.7)79 (10.7)40 (5.4)58 (7.9)327 (44.5) 290 (39.5)201 (27.3) 171 (23.2) 212 (28.6)88 (11.9)189 (25.6) 171 (23.2) 230 (31.2)85 (11.5)154 (21.0) 160 (21.8) 266 (36.2) 114 (15.5)14 (1.9)36 (4.9)301 (41.0) 379 (51.6)71 (9.8)238 (32.8) 240 (33.1) 148 (20.4)42 (5.8)222 (30.6) 271 (37.3) 171 (23.6)123 (17.0) 112 (15.5) 258 (35.7) 162 (22.4)The number of respondents per item varies (N , 735) with the number of respondents who provided a response.4Agree4

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2012; 76 (3) Article 39.Over 85% of respondents indicated they agreed that,at the conclusion of pharmacy school, they were awareof the career opportunities that residency training wouldprovide, whereas only 42% and 44% of respondents indicated the same for fellowship training and graduateschool, respectively. Likewise, 84% of respondents indicated that at the conclusion of pharmacy school, theyhad the knowledge necessary to make an informed decision regarding whether to consider residency trainingas a career option. The percentage of respondents whoindicated they had the knowledge necessary to make aninformed decision whether to consider fellowship training and graduate education as career options was 41%and 43%, respectively. Fifty-two percent of respondentsindicated that they had the knowledge necessary to determine whether pharmacy academia was an appropriatecareer option for them.Regarding perceptions of the skills necessary tocomplete residency, fellowship, and graduate school training at the conclusion of pharmacy school, 93% of respondents agreed/strongly agreed that they had the skillsnecessary to successfully complete residency training,while 55% of respondents indicated the same for fellowship training and 62% for graduate school training.All 19 items were retained for exploratory factoranalysis based on factorability analyses. No items wereremoved from the instrument based on examination ofitem correlations and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin values. Thecollective Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure for the 19 itemswas 0.834. The Bartlett’s test was significant (p , 0.001),indicating absence of an identity matrix. Correlation matrices indicated no issues related to multicollinearity orsingularity.Using a principal axis factoring extraction methodand a promax rotation, 5 factors were extracted that hadEigenvalues greater than 1.29 Overall, 16 items subjectedto exploratory factor analysis loaded distinctly on 1 of 5factors. The percent of variance explained by the 5-factormodel was 69.2%. The 5 items loading on the first factor represented research-focused career opportunities. Factor 2was comprised of items representing residency interest andawareness. The 3 items that loaded on the third factor represented curricular career exposure. The fourth factor included 3 items that represented interest displayed by othersin research and research-related training. The fifth factorwas comprised of 2 items that could be considered specific toresearch-related skill competence. One item was removedfrom the instrument based on reliability analysis.28 The coefficient alphas and descriptive statistics for individual constructs are presented in Table 3.ANOVA output and mean scores across highest postgraduate training are presented in Table 4. Each of theTable 3. Interest and Exposure Constructs Resulting FromExploratory Factor AnalysisFactorResearch-focused career opportunitiesResidency interest and awarenessCurricular career exposureExternal interest in research andresearch-related trainingResearch-related skill 1.0)(0.8)0.870.810.760.703.7 (0.9)0.77constructs significantly differed across highest postgraduate training completed by faculty members. Facultymembers who completed fellowship training or a doctoral degree indicated higher knowledge and awarenessof research-focused careers as compared to those whohad completed a post-baccalaureate (post-BS) PharmDand those who had completed a residency program. PostBS PharmD graduates and doctoral degree earners indicated significantly lower residency interest and awarenessscores compared to respondents who completed residencies, fellowships, or master’s degrees (p , 0.016 foreach item).Regarding curricular career exposure, fellowshipcompleters had significantly higher scores as comparedto PharmD earners and master’s degree earners. Thosewho had completed a fellowship also rated interest displayed by others regarding research and research-relatedtraining higher than their colleagues who earned a postBS PharmD degree. Regarding research-related skill competence at the conclusion of pharmacy school, doctoraldegree earners agreed to a greater extent than all otherpostgraduate training paths (p , 0.04 for each item).Interest and exposure beliefs of study respondentswere examined across gender and significant differenceswere found only for the items that focused on residencyinterest and awareness. Female faculty members indicatedgreater knowledge and awareness of residency trainingthan did male respondents (p , 0.001).Pearson correlation analyses revealed significantrelationships between 2 postgraduate training interestexposure constructs and respondent age. Specifically,residency interest and awareness perceptions had a significant negative relationship with age (r 5 -0.286, p ,0.001). Therefore, younger faculty members indicated anincreased interest in and awareness of residency training.Likewise, year of employment at current rank was negatively correlated with residency interest and awareness(r 5 -0.108, p 5 0.005). Research-related skill competency perceptions were significantly positively correlated with age (r 5 0.101, p 5 0.008). No other differences5

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2012; 76 (3) Article 39.Table 4. Mean Factor Scores and Significance Levels Across Level of Postgraduate Training CompletedConstructLevel of Postgraduate TrainingPharmD Residency Fellowship Master’s DoctorateResearch career opportunitiesResidency interest and awarenessCurricular career exposureExternal interest in research and research-related trainingResearch-related skill b3.53.8b3.3a,b3.6a,b4.3bP,0.001,0.0010.02, 0.01,0.001a,b,cp , 0.05. Different superscript letters indicate Tukey post hoc significant differences across levels of training (ie, superscript ‘a’ factor scoresare significantly different from superscript ‘b’ factor scores).in responses across demographic characteristics werenoted.The faculty member responses reported here aremerely perceptions and may not reflect reality. It is impossible to determine the extent to which the respondents’ personal biases impacted their perceptions of theirprofessors regarding fellowship training and/or graduatedegrees. Possibly, no matter what faculty members presenting information on these postgraduate paths mighthave said or what examples they might have portrayed,these former students would not have found it of interest. The finding that twice as many respondents felt thatfaculty interest in residency training was displayed ascompared to faculty interest in fellowship and graduatetraining is concerning given that interest displayed byothers is one aspect of achievement motivation that hasthe potential to communicate task value to pharmacystudents.30Eccles’ expectancy-value model indicates that theaforementioned factors influence achievement motivation by being integrated into cognitive processes that formmotivational beliefs.30 Motivational beliefs are perceptions. Expectancy-value theory indicates that these perceptions inform task choice decision making. For USpharmacists in particular, given the lack of awarenessof and knowledge of fellowship training, graduate education, research, and academic careers, motivational beliefsare potentially being formed around insufficient information. Whether additional postgraduate training and careerinformation provided to pharmacy students would changepostgraduate training or career paths is unknown. However, lack of information regarding choices will likely influence motivational beliefs surrounding those options.Succinctly, task-specific value beliefs can and will beformed whether or not adequate information is used indecision-making processes.Examination of responses was somewhat discouraging from the standpoint of adequacy of career explorationin pharmacy curricula. Of interest is how the respondents’perceptions of fellowship training, graduate education, research, and academic careers differ from pharmacy graduates who chose not to pursue postgraduate training ofDISCUSSIONThe authors conducted this survey to better understand the perceptions of faculty members with US pharmacy degrees regarding the extent of their exposure inpharmacy school to postgraduate training paths and theinterest displayed by their professors regarding postgraduate training paths, research, and academic careers. Basedon pilot study feedback, respondents were given the option of selecting “not applicable” for any of the items thatthey felt did not pertain to them. The large percentage of“not applicable” responses for some of the items is concerning given that most of the items were arguably applicable to all study respondents. For example, none of thefaculty members responded “not applicable” to an itemasking whether they had the skills to successfully complete residency training, while 16 responded “not applicable” to an almost identical item asking whether they hadthe skills to successfully complete fellowship training.Perhaps some individuals indicated “not applicable” whenin fact they should have selected “neutral” or another response. Regardless, the responses indicate that the facultymembers did not feel as comfortable answering fellowship and graduate education-specific questions.Overall, respondents tended to respond more favorably to items that assessed perceptions of residency training. Logically, this finding might be expected given therelative prevalence of residency training and the perceived continuity of clinical training received while earning the PharmD degree. However, awareness of, exposureto, and knowledge of career opportunities and postgraduate training opportunities should be sufficientacross potential education and career paths, allowing students to make more informed decisions. In this study, wewould have liked to see similarly high exposure ratingsand informed decision making ratings across each ofthe postgraduate paths assessed; however, this was notthe case.6

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2012; 76 (3) Article 39.any sort. Of concern is the sense of ignorance abouteducation and career options reflected in the responsesof the relatively more educated cohort of pharmacistswho participated in this study. Future research couldexamine pharmacists’ perceptions regarding postgraduate training paths across practice settings to see if different perceptions are noted as compared to those ofacademicians.Results of exploratory factor analysis indicated thata 5-factor solution was the most appropriate solution.Mean scores for the 5 constructs ranged from 3.1 (curricular career exposure) to 4.2 (residency interest and awareness). Curricular career exposure focused on perceptionsof exposure to faculty careers and research-related fields.The research-related career opportunities construct focused specifically on careers resulting from fellowshiptraining and graduate education (mean 5 3.1). Scor

RESEARCH Junior Pharmacy Faculty Members’ Perceptions of Their Exposure to Postgraduate Training and Academic Careers During Pharmacy School Nicholas E. Hagemeier, PharmD, PhD,a and Matthew M. Murawski, PhDb aGatton College of Pharmacy, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN bPu