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Background <p>Artificial intelligence tools are reshaping global higher education, yet their deployment and systemic implications within resource-constrained, conflict-affected settings remain poorly characterized. This study examined artificial intelligence adoption prevalence, usage patterns, perceived educational benefits, self-reported usability, attitudes, social norms, and institutional support structures among undergraduate pharmacy students in Syria.</p> Methods <p>A cross-sectional survey was administered between January and February 2026 to 295 pharmacy students across multiple private and public Syrian universities. Data collection utilised a five-construct psychometric instrument. To enhance analytical depth, independent-samples <i>t</i>-tests, one-way Analysis of Variance with post-hoc Tukey’s tests, and multiple linear regression modelling were applied to evaluate variations across student subgroups and determine relational dependencies.</p> Results <p>Overall, 86.8% of participants utilised artificial intelligence tools for academic purposes, with ChatGPT emerging as the dominant platform (96.5%). Core academic use cases included concept explanation (83.2%), drug information retrieval (70.3%), and practice question generation (57.0%). While students reported positive perceived educational benefits (mean = 3.60/5.00) and favourable learning attitudes (mean = 3.66/5.00), institutional support was critically deficient (mean = 1.55/5.00). Formal institutional guidance (93.6%) and training (95.3%) were virtually absent, forcing 95.9% of students to rely entirely on self-directed learning. Inferential analysis revealed significant variations by curricular seniority; fifth-year students demonstrated higher artificial intelligence self-efficacy and usability scores than junior counterparts (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.001). Construct perceptions did not vary significantly by gender, though private university students reported higher institutional support than public university peers (<i>P</i> = 0.036).</p> Conclusions <p>Syrian pharmacy students have autonomously integrated artificial intelligence into their academic routines at rates comparable to high-income settings, yet they do so in the complete absence of institutional scaffolding. The co-occurrence of high adoption and positive attitudes alongside deficient critical verification skills exposes a distinct risk profile: students may develop misplaced confidence in automated pharmacological outputs without possessing the evaluative competencies to intercept factual errors. This pattern demands urgent curricular interventions across low- and middle-income countries.</p>

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Adoption of artificial intelligence tools among pharmacy students in Syria: patterns of use, educational perceptions, and institutional barriers

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年6月17日

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  • Muaaz Alajlani,
  • Afraa Alnokkari,
  • Loai Aljerf

摘要

Background

Artificial intelligence tools are reshaping global higher education, yet their deployment and systemic implications within resource-constrained, conflict-affected settings remain poorly characterized. This study examined artificial intelligence adoption prevalence, usage patterns, perceived educational benefits, self-reported usability, attitudes, social norms, and institutional support structures among undergraduate pharmacy students in Syria.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was administered between January and February 2026 to 295 pharmacy students across multiple private and public Syrian universities. Data collection utilised a five-construct psychometric instrument. To enhance analytical depth, independent-samples t-tests, one-way Analysis of Variance with post-hoc Tukey’s tests, and multiple linear regression modelling were applied to evaluate variations across student subgroups and determine relational dependencies.

Results

Overall, 86.8% of participants utilised artificial intelligence tools for academic purposes, with ChatGPT emerging as the dominant platform (96.5%). Core academic use cases included concept explanation (83.2%), drug information retrieval (70.3%), and practice question generation (57.0%). While students reported positive perceived educational benefits (mean = 3.60/5.00) and favourable learning attitudes (mean = 3.66/5.00), institutional support was critically deficient (mean = 1.55/5.00). Formal institutional guidance (93.6%) and training (95.3%) were virtually absent, forcing 95.9% of students to rely entirely on self-directed learning. Inferential analysis revealed significant variations by curricular seniority; fifth-year students demonstrated higher artificial intelligence self-efficacy and usability scores than junior counterparts (P < 0.001). Construct perceptions did not vary significantly by gender, though private university students reported higher institutional support than public university peers (P = 0.036).

Conclusions

Syrian pharmacy students have autonomously integrated artificial intelligence into their academic routines at rates comparable to high-income settings, yet they do so in the complete absence of institutional scaffolding. The co-occurrence of high adoption and positive attitudes alongside deficient critical verification skills exposes a distinct risk profile: students may develop misplaced confidence in automated pharmacological outputs without possessing the evaluative competencies to intercept factual errors. This pattern demands urgent curricular interventions across low- and middle-income countries.