Members of a college of pharmacy community reported moderate stress and coping and poor sleep quality, with stress predicting poor sleep quality, and OTC medication use predicting poorer sleep quality.
Pharmacy community members reported moderate stress, moderate coping, and poor sleep quality overall.
Stress was inversely correlated with coping and positively correlated with poor sleep quality.
Stress was a significant predictor of poorer sleep quality in multiple linear regression analysis.
OTC medication use predicted poorer sleep quality, and both prescription and OTC medication use were associated with higher stress and lower coping.
Qualitative analysis identified workload and emotional strain as primary stressors, and exercise and social support as key coping strategies.
This research suggests that members of a college of pharmacy community — including students, faculty, and staff — commonly experience moderate levels of stress and coping ability, along with poor sleep quality. The study surveyed 147 participants and used both questionnaires and open-ended questions to understand how stress, coping, and sleep relate to each other. The results showed that people who reported higher stress also tended to cope less effectively and sleep more poorly, and that stress directly predicted worse sleep quality. The study also found that people who used over-the-counter (OTC) medications had worse sleep quality, and both OTC and prescription medication users reported higher stress and lower coping — though the direction of these relationships (whether stress leads to medication use or vice versa) cannot be determined from this cross-sectional design. In the qualitative portion, participants described heavy workloads and emotional strain as major sources of stress, while exercise and social support were the strategies most commonly used to cope. This research suggests that pharmacy colleges may benefit from developing programs that address stress management, teach adaptive coping skills, and promote healthy sleep habits together, rather than in isolation. The findings highlight that poor well-being is not limited to students alone but may affect the broader academic pharmacy community, pointing to the need for institution-wide wellness initiatives to support both academic success and long-term professional sustainability.
Geer A, Tikare O, Hulett H, Musa M, Edwards A, Chimalakonda S, et al.. (2026). Exploring the association between stress, coping, and sleep in a Midwestern College of Pharmacy Community: A mixed methods study.. Currents in pharmacy teaching & learning. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cptl.2026.102622