title: Impact of the Career Explorers program on high school students' perceptions of the pharmacy profession.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the effect of a 5-week Career Explorers Program (CEP) on high school students' perceptions of pharmacists' characteristics, duties, and training.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 16-item survey instrument with attitudinal, frequency, and relative quantity response options was completed by all CEP students on the first and last day of the program. The survey assessed students' attitudes concerning pharmacist characteristics, duties, and training.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All students who participated in the CEP in 2003 completed the survey instrument (n = 50). Seventy percent of respondents' answers to the attitudinal subscale questions significantly changed from preassessment to postassessment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A 5-week CEP provided high school students with more realistic perceptions of pharmacists' roles, duties, and training before the students entered the pharmacy program.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Practice, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy, 833 South Wood Street, Room164 (M/C 886), Chicago, IL 60612, USA. slangr1@uic.edu
authors.forename: Sarah M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Langridge
authors.forename: Sheri L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Stensland
authors.forename: Terri L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Warholak
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mattingly
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D001364:Awareness; D002321:Career Choice; D006801:Humans; D007587:Job Description; D010465:Perception; D010604:Pharmacy; D018794:Problem-Based Learning; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012984:Software; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014830:Vocational Guidance / Q000379:methods*