Abstract
This study informs the topic of pregnant and parenting students in doctoral health sciences programs, more specifically pharmacy programs. The purpose of this study was to identify common practices and decision making factors pharmacy faculty used in supporting and accommodating pregnant and postpartum students. The aim of this study was to inform policy and procedure development, as well as professional development training for pharmacy faculty as it relates to working with pregnant and postpartum students. The methodology for this study was a concurrent mixed methods design to study pharmacy faculty at a private religious university in the Midwest. A survey was the tool used to collect data and was designed and tested by the researcher. One of the key findings was that faculty rely more on school-level policies and procedures to guide their decisions when working with pregnant and postpartum students. The findings also revealed that participants had a somewhat positive or neutral view of pregnant students. These findings led to the proposed solution that both university and school-level policies and procedures are needed in order to ensure pregnant and parenting students receive the appropriate support and accommodations in a consistent manner, particularly so they are within Title IX regulations. One key practical implication is that in order for pregnant and parenting students to be treated appropriately, leaders need to create procedures at the school-level that are reflective of university policies about pregnant and parenting students.|Keywords: Pregnant and parenting student, pharmacy, pharmacy faculty, Title IX, decision making factors