Aston University pharmacy grad hailed for impactful study on mental health

An Aston University graduate has been awarded the College of Mental Health Pharmacy (CMHP) Undergraduate Project award for her masters degree research.

Adeeka Saad completed her project, entitled ‘Student Perspectives on Experiential Learning Opportunities in Mental Health’, as her final prject - setting up focus groups to discuss the benefits and barriers of experimental learning opportunities in mental health - including simulation's and clinical placements.

The study concluded that they would have a positive impact on preparing students for practice and that the field of study may be better taught to students if they incorporated some of the experimental methods.

The student described the project as the "most enjoyable experience". She continued: "Attending my first pharmacy conference as a winner of an award was so motivating and rewarding. I was so happy to see that others had found my project so interesting and saw the value in my work.”

Judges of the award, which is open to all undergraduate pharmacy students in the UK, claim her study was of "publishable standard".

Sarah Jones, from the University of Bath, commented that the project “tackled a really important subject with relevance to schools of pharmacy across the UK” and praised its “thoughtful analysis of the data she gathered on experiential learning opportunities available to MPharm students.”

Dr Macfarlane said: “It was great to see how well Adeeka framed and approached her research question. She made an exceptional effort to understand and adopt the methodology, doing a great job on her first attempt at qualitative research in a limited period of time.”

The annual award is presented for the best project on a subject related to the practice of mental health pharmacy, usually for a final-year project.

CMHP is a charity which aims to benefit individual care through advancing education and research in the practice of mental health pharmacy.