ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Healthcare Professions Education
Active Learning Through Journal Clubs in Pharmacy Education: Assessment of Student Experiences, Outcomes, and Attitudes
1. Umm Al-Qura University College of Pharmacy, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
2. College of Pharmacy, Umm Al Qura University, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
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Abstract
Introduction: Journal clubs are established pedagogical tools that enhance pharmacy students' critical appraisal and evidence-based practice skills. However, few studies have examined longitudinal changes following repeated exposure to such activities. This study assessed the outcomes, perceptions, and engagement of pharmacy students after two sequential journal club experiences within an Evidence-Based Medicine course. Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted among fifth-year undergraduate pharmacy students at Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The second journal club experience occurred three months after the first one and used the same validated survey to measure three domains: learning outcomes, perceptions and attitudes, and feedback and future improvements. Descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon rank-sum, and chi-squared/Fisher's exact tests were used to compare scores between cycles, with significance set at p < 0.05. Results: 77 students participated in each experience. Reliability improved across all domains (learning outcomes α = 0.666 → 0.774; perceptions α= 0.782 → 0.813; feedback α= 0.647 → 0.710). Significant gains were observed in critical thinking (77.9% vs 58.4%, p = 0.009) and data analysis (59.7% vs 42.9%, p= 0.036). However, satisfaction and willingness to participate again declined (68.8% vs 84.4%, p= 0.022), and mean feedback scores decreased (3.6 ± 1.5 vs 2.7 ± 2.2, p= 0.005). No significant differences were found in overall learning outcome or perception scores. Conclusion: Repeated exposure to journal club activities enhanced students' analytical and critical thinking skills but reduced their satisfaction and enthusiasm for future participation. While the intervention strengthened cognitive learning domains, declining affective engagement suggests the need for curricular adjustments such as varied formats, reflective components, and diversified facilitation to sustain motivation and optimize educational impact in longitudinal learning designs.
Summary
Keywords
Active Learning, Critical Thinking, Evidence-Based Medicine, journal club, Pharmacy education, Pharmacy students, Saudi Arabia, Studentengagement
Received
26 November 2025
Accepted
06 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Gazzaz and Wali. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Saad M. Wali
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