{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T09:25:10Z","timestamp":1787304310495,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787270400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100007446","name":"Deanship of Research and Graduate Studies at King Khalid University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["RGP1\/59\/47"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RGP1\/59\/47"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100007446","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["RGP1\/59\/47"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RGP1\/59\/47"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/052kwzs30","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pharmacy"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Objectives: This study aimed to assess pharmacy students\u2019 curricular exposure to deprescribing, their attitudes and preparedness to perform core deprescribing steps, and their understanding of interprofessional roles in the deprescribing process. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey that included undergraduate pharmacy students in their fifth or sixth year of study, who were enrolled in Saudi universities during the academic year 2025\/2026. A 43-item self-administered validated questionnaire was used. The independent-samples t-test was used to examine differences in attitudes and preparedness among participants via SPSS 27. Results: In total, 367 students from 23 universities participated in the study; 54.0% were female, and 62.1% were in their fifth year. Familiarity with the term \u2018deprescribing\u2019 was reported by 55.3% of participants. Participants demonstrated highly positive attitudes toward the benefits of deprescribing, moderate toward misconceptions, and low toward barriers, with mean percentage scores of 85.08%, 66.50%, and 41.93%, respectively. Participants indicated moderately positive perceptions toward the non-experiential curriculum preparedness to identify and practice deprescribing and self-perception of the ability to perform core deprescribing steps, with mean percentage scores of 70.2% and 77.24%, respectively. Statistically significant differences were observed in the perception of curriculum preparedness by gender (p = 0.038), familiarity with the term deprescribing (p &lt; 0.001), and exposure to deprescribing in the required pharmacy curriculum (p &lt; 0.001). Participants perceived clinical pharmacists as having the greatest role across most stages of the deprescribing process. Conclusions: Undergraduate pharmacy students in Saudi Arabia recognize the value of deprescribing but have limited curricular exposure and moderate perceived preparedness to deprescribe.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pharmacy14050124","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T08:14:01Z","timestamp":1787300041000},"page":"124","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Deprescribing Curricular Exposure, Attitudes, and Preparedness Among Undergraduate Pharmacy Students in Saudi Arabia"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-0545-445X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lina","family":"Altayeb","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Khalid University, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-3734-9854","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hend","family":"Talkhan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Khalid University, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rayah","family":"Asiri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Khalid University, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rawan","family":"Aloqran","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Pharmacy, King Khalid University, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Arwa","family":"Al Saeed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Pharmacy, King Khalid University, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6651-2306","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Khalid","family":"Orayj","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Khalid University, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1551","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mayocp.2024.11.030","article-title":"Polypharmacy and Potentially Inappropriate Medications in Adults \u2265 75 Years of Age by Dementia and Frailty Status: The ARIC Study","volume":"100","author":"Lutsey","year":"2025","journal-title":"Mayo Clin. 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