Understanding Undergraduate Students Desire to Study Psychiatric Rehabilitation: A Qualitative Study

To efficiently prepare future workers in the mental health and psychiatric rehabilitation fields, academic programs must evaluate and assess their programs to ensure their effectiveness. The purpose of this qualitative study was to evaluate an undergraduate degree program in psychiatric rehabilitation. Eleven students participated in semi-structured interviews with the purpose of exploring their motivations for pursuing the degree program and their perceptions of the program and curriculum. Thematic analysis generated three themes: Family and Lived Experience: Influences for Pursuing the Degree, Program Factors that Influence Success, and Professional Identity Formation within the Context of Lived Experience. The psychiatric rehabilitation program contributed positively to the development of the students’ professional identity and students’ personal experiences with mental health conditions impacted their motivation to pursue a career in mental health.