Residency, Fellowship, and Graduate School Value Beliefs among Student Pharmacists

Objectives: To compare pharmacy students’ value beliefs across residency training, fellowship training, and graduate education with research and non-research emphases using expectancy-value theory as a framework. Method: First through fourth professional year (P1-P4) students (N=263) completed the 26-item Postgraduate Training Value Instrument (PTVI) for four postgraduate training paths. Items were responded to using a 5-point Likert scale. Intrinsic, attainment, utility, financial value and perceived cost scores were calculated for each training path. Using SAS 9.0, ANOVA procedures were employed to test differences between mean value construct scores across training paths. Results: An 84% response rate was obtained. Value construct scores ranged from 2.02 for financial value of fellowship training to 3.36 for intrinsic value of residency training. Positive value scores (i.e., scores that theoretically support task choice) were noted for two (residency intrinsic value and residency utility value) of the 20 evaluated value constructs. Students reported statistically significantly higher intrinsic, attainment, utility, and financial value scores for residency training as compared to other paths (pImplications: To our knowledge, this is the first study to theoretically quantify students’ value beliefs across commonly pursued postgraduate training paths. Our results indicate an overall lack of intrinsic, attainment, utility, and financial value for most paths and high perceived cost across all paths. The PTVI could be used to target interventions across curricula that seek to promote the value of various postgraduate training paths. Research is warranted to explore students’ value beliefs longitudinally