Academic Resilience of Healthcare Professional Students in Pakistan: Need of the Hour

Abstract

Introduction: Due to the challenging and competitive academic environment throughout the world, the mental health of students enrolled in healthcare professions is largely affected resulting in burnout and poor quality of life. Lack of academic counseling and poor teaching strategies further aggravates this situation leading to development of poor resilience among healthcare students. The inability to cope with academic stress can provoke serious consequences which needs to be addressed. Objective: The present study was designed to assess academic resilience and its associated factors among healthcare professional students in Pakistan. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. A pre-validated questionnaire i.e. Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) was self-administered to a sample of 382 healthcare professional students selected using convenience sampling technique for measuring resilience. After data collection, data was cleaned, coded and entered in SPSS. Results: The results of the current study highlighted that mean scores of resilience of different healthcare professional students were: Medicine students (70.22, ±13.73), followed by the pharmacy students (66.61, ±15.48) and then nursing students (65.86, ±15.76). Conclusion: The present study concluded moderate academic resilience among students of different healthcare profession. Medicine students were found most resilient, followed by pharmacy and nursing students. Educators and educational institutions must assess and build resilience among healthcare students by identifying the factors to ensure success in this competitive healthcare environment.