To examine the construct of competence as a lived experience amongst pharmacists who had been identified and labelled as incompetent by their regulatory body.
A multiple single-case research design (described by Kratochwill and Levin) involving 14 practicing pharmacists identified as not meeting competence standards by their regulatory body in Ontario, Canada was used for this research. Constant-comparative qualitative analysis of semi-structured interview data was coded, categorized and used to identify and describe major research themes.
Two major themes were identified, related to the personal and professional consequences of being labelled \"incompetent\" by one\'s regulatory body, and the importance of psychological engagement in one\'s own profession in facilitating maintenance of competence.
This study highlighted the importance of disengagement as both a cause and consequence of competence drift and pointed to the impact of regulatory policies, practices, and assessment systems that may actually inadvertently contribute to this disengagement.