Qualitative data
The response to the open – ended question at the end of the survey resulted in 53% of the sample or 251 participants offering narrative data about their experiences with SDA. Responses were from each year of the program, 32% of responses from Year 2, 38% from Year 3, and 29% from Year 4. Each response was coded based on the following themes: overwhelmed, balancing school work and personal responsibilities (balancing), clinical practice, academic issues, coping, history of health problems, help - seeking, self – reflection, personal issues, and expectations. Themes were developed based on an initial read of the transcribed data and available literature and developed collaboratively by the researchers. Based on a frequency analysis of the appearance of each theme, the most common themes were: clinical practice, coping, personal issues, and balancing. While most comments reflected positive experiences in coping and learning situations.