Pharmacy Students' Knowledge Regarding Medical Marijuana
Pharmacy Students' Knowledge Regarding Medical Marijuana
Pharmacy students from the first (P1), second (P2), and third years (P3) at a The University of Kansas were asked to complete an anonymous self-administered written survey regarding their knowledge and perceptions of medical marijuana, which is not legal in Kansas. All surveys were administered during the spring semester of 2011 during the last 20 minutes of a required course in the PharmD curriculum. Students were not required to complete the survey. The study was approved by the university's Human Subjects Committee.
The survey was developed by 2 faculty members in the department of pharmacy practice who specialized in addiction and survey development. After initial development, the survey instrument was evaluated for face and content validity by 10 fourth-year pharmacy students and revised accordingly. The survey consisted of 3 separate domains. The first domain assessed knowledge of medicinal marijuana, including medical uses and adverse effects. In this domain, students were asked to circle potential medicinal uses for marijuana (14 had approved medical uses in various states and 5 were not approved for use in any states) and potential adverse effects of marijuana (15 adverse effects related to marijuana use and 5 adverse effects not associated with marijuana use). The approved uses for medical marijuana were chosen from a list of approved indications in 14 states where medical marijuana was legal at the time of survey development. All approved indications, except migraines, were approved in at least 2 or more states, with 9 of the indications approved by 90% of the states. To be included as an adverse effect, side effects were gathered from published literature and listed side effects of dronabinol and nabilone. The second domain, which measured student attitudes, contained a series of twenty-three 5-point Likert-scale questions (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree). Students were asked about their attitudes regarding medical and recreational use of marijuana, and they were surveyed on their confidence levels in answering questions regarding efficacy, safety, and drug interactions of medical marijuana. The third domain included 6 closed-ended questions related to personal factors that could potentially affect attitudes and knowledge.
Responses were entered into an Excel worksheet, and accuracy was verified using a 10% random sample audit. We compared differences between professional years and between students who had previously used marijuana to students who had never used marijuana. Nominal variables were compared using chi-square. Scale data were compared using independent t tests between marijuana use status, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare means between the 3 professional years. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSSv20 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL), with a p value less than 0.05 defined as significant.
Methods
Pharmacy students from the first (P1), second (P2), and third years (P3) at a The University of Kansas were asked to complete an anonymous self-administered written survey regarding their knowledge and perceptions of medical marijuana, which is not legal in Kansas. All surveys were administered during the spring semester of 2011 during the last 20 minutes of a required course in the PharmD curriculum. Students were not required to complete the survey. The study was approved by the university's Human Subjects Committee.
The survey was developed by 2 faculty members in the department of pharmacy practice who specialized in addiction and survey development. After initial development, the survey instrument was evaluated for face and content validity by 10 fourth-year pharmacy students and revised accordingly. The survey consisted of 3 separate domains. The first domain assessed knowledge of medicinal marijuana, including medical uses and adverse effects. In this domain, students were asked to circle potential medicinal uses for marijuana (14 had approved medical uses in various states and 5 were not approved for use in any states) and potential adverse effects of marijuana (15 adverse effects related to marijuana use and 5 adverse effects not associated with marijuana use). The approved uses for medical marijuana were chosen from a list of approved indications in 14 states where medical marijuana was legal at the time of survey development. All approved indications, except migraines, were approved in at least 2 or more states, with 9 of the indications approved by 90% of the states. To be included as an adverse effect, side effects were gathered from published literature and listed side effects of dronabinol and nabilone. The second domain, which measured student attitudes, contained a series of twenty-three 5-point Likert-scale questions (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree). Students were asked about their attitudes regarding medical and recreational use of marijuana, and they were surveyed on their confidence levels in answering questions regarding efficacy, safety, and drug interactions of medical marijuana. The third domain included 6 closed-ended questions related to personal factors that could potentially affect attitudes and knowledge.
Responses were entered into an Excel worksheet, and accuracy was verified using a 10% random sample audit. We compared differences between professional years and between students who had previously used marijuana to students who had never used marijuana. Nominal variables were compared using chi-square. Scale data were compared using independent t tests between marijuana use status, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare means between the 3 professional years. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSSv20 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL), with a p value less than 0.05 defined as significant.
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