USE OF Q-TECHNIQUE TO EXAMINE ATTITUDES OF ENTERING PHARMACY STUDENTSTOWARD THEIR PROFESSION

The purpose of this study was to qualify pharmacy students' subjective motivations for seeking a professional degree. Essays composed and su bmitted by student applicants to the UIC College of Pharmacy were used as a concourse from which a naturalistic representative sample of sta tements (0-set) was selected regarding perceptions of pharmacy as a pr ofession. Students identified by data obtained from the Dean of Studen t Affairs Office as belonging to ''high academic performance'' and ''l ow academic performance'' groups after one and two semesters of pharma cy education were selected for the person sample (P-set). Factored 0-s orts produced six distinct sets of attitudes operationally defined as exhibiting clinical, family, science, undecided, traditional community , and altruistic orientations. Characteristics of the factors are desc ribed and compared with regard to issues of importance and unimportanc e to the students as well as the extent to which these attitude repres entations can be used to capture the larger picture of an important cr edentialled health profession undergoing rapid changes in the past two decades.