Emotional intelligence scores among three cohorts of pharmacy students before and after completing the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy's Leadership Degree Option Program.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Report change in Emotional Intelligence Appraisal scores among three cohorts of student pharmacists before and after completing the Leadership Degree Option (LDO) Program within the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING

The first three cohorts of student pharmacists who elected to enroll in the College's LDO completed the self-administered Emotional Intelligence Appraisal, Me Edition, at the start of the LDO program and again three years later at the end of the program. Paired samples t-test compared differences between mean pre- and post-scores stratified by gender.

FINDINGS

A total of 36 students from Cohorts 1, 2, and 3 completed and voluntarily reported their scores of the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal. There was a statistically significant increase in mean overall Emotional Intelligence Appraisal score between the start and end of the LDO (pre = 76.39, post = 81.03, p < 0.0001). Statistical significance remained when stratified by gender. There also were statistically significant differences on various sub-domain scores.

DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

We observed a before and after increase in Emotional Intelligence Appraisal scores among three cohorts of pharmacy students who completed a three-year LDO Program in parallel with completing the Doctor of Pharmacy Degree Program. Emotional recognizance and management in oneself and others has potential to build leadership capacity that can be applied in the health-care delivery setting.