Prevalence and Evaluation of Yemeni Pharmacy Graduates' Interest in Pursuing Master's Degrees: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective: This study examines the prevalence of interest among Yemeni pharmacy graduates in pursuing a master's degree and validates a culturally sensitive questionnaire designed for the same purpose.
Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire distributed to 123 pharmacy graduates or in their final year of study. Data was collected via Google form in the period between June – July 2024. Participants were either pharmacy graduates or students in their final year of pharmacy. The survey was validated using pilot study and analyzed by SPSS version 26.
Results: indicated that majority of participants were under 25 years old (65%), with a slight male predominance 83 (67.5%). In addition, 70 (56.9%) of respondents already graduated, while the remaining 53 (43.1%) were in their final year of pharmacy studies or the first year of a master's program. 86 (69.6%) of participants declared that they have less than 5 years of experience and 37 (30.1%) reported the opposite. The survey indicated a high prevalence of interest in postgraduate studies, particularly in clinical pharmacy 77 (62.6%), pharmacology 60 (48.8%), industrial pharmacy 28 (22.8%), medicinal chemistry 20 (16.3%), social and administrative pharmacy 19 (15.4%), pharmacognosy 17 (13.8%), and pharmacy practice 16 (13%). The questionnaire demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha > 0.70).
Conclusion: This study developed a robust survey instrument to assess Yemeni pharmacy graduates' interest in pursuing master’s degrees, revealing a strong inclination towards clinical pharmacy followed by pharmacology and low interest towards pharmacognosy.