Pharmacy students' perceptions of instructional methods of cognitive apprenticeship in clinical teaching: A qualitative study

Background: Clinical training provides many opportunities to acquire complex skills safely. The cognitive apprenticeship (CA) model advocates six teaching methods: modelling, coaching, scaffolding, reflection, articulation and exploration, which are useful teaching strategies. Little is known about how these strategies best fit into pharmacy clinical teaching. Methods: This study used a qualitative research approach using individual interviews and focus groups. All interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. Results: Twenty students participated in six focus groups and three interviews. Two major themes were identified: the value of teaching and the influences of teaching methods and learning. Results indicated that coaching was predominantly applied in pharmacy clinical teaching. Other teaching methods were inconsistently applied. Conclusion: The findings support the use of cognitive apprenticeship teaching methods in pharmacy skills teaching, but the effective application of these methods hinges on instructional design and teacher development. Guided by the literature and the findings, a teaching framework may be tested in further research and used for teacher development and evaluation.