title: Design and evaluation of a self-care educational activity as a student learning experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To design an educational activity and evaluate its effectiveness on increasing third-year pharmacy students' knowledge and confidence to recommend self-care products to patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Faculty members created a self-care activity, the Amazing Self-Care Race, for educational use in a pharmaceutical care laboratory course. Student teams worked competitively to complete 15 stations focused on self-care. A complex, real-world case was presented at each station. Student recommendations were presented to a facilitator. Prior to and following the activity, students were invited to complete an online anonymous survey instrument.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-six students completed presurvey and postsurvey instruments to assess their knowledge and perceived confidence to recommend a self-care product to a patient prior to and following participation in the Amazing Self-Care Race. Students demonstrated a significant increase in their ability and confidence to recommend self-care products following the activity (p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Amazing Self-Care Race is an effective educational activity that increases student knowledge and confidence in self-care therapeutics. The activity helped students to develop self-care skills, enabled them to learn through doing, encouraged them to synthesize information while making self-care recommendations, and helped them to develop confidence by thinking on their feet.
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Allied Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota.
authors.forename: Jeanne E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Frenzel
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Allied Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota.
authors.forename: Elizabeth T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Skoy
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Allied Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota.
authors.forename: Heidi N
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Eukel
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003479:Curriculum / Q000592:standards; D004512:Education, Pharmacy / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D018794:Problem-Based Learning / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D013339:Students, Pharmacy
keywords: nonprescription; pharmaceutical care laboratory; self-care recommendations; self-care skills