Balancing Academics and Life: Qualitative Study of Health Professions Students’ Perceptions of a Four-Day Academic Week in the United Arab Emirates

Ashokan Arumugam   ^{1, 2, 3, 4 *} , MPT, PhD ;   Jacqueline Maria Dias   ^{5 *} , PhD ;   Sangeetha Narasimhan   ⁶ , PhD ;   Raneen Mohammed Qadah   ¹ , MSc ;   Reime Jamal Shalash   ¹ , PhD ;   Taif A M Omran   ¹ , BSc ;   Bashair M Mussa   ⁷ , PhD ;   Basema Saddik   ^{8, 9} , PhD ;   Nadia Rashed Al Mazrouei   ¹⁰ , PhD ;   Sivapriya Ramakrishnan   ¹ , MA, MPT

¹ Department of Physiotherapy, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

² Neuromusculoskeletal Rehabilitation Research Group, RIMHS – Research Institute of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

³ Sustainable Engineering Asset Management Research Group, RISE - Research Institute of Sciences and Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

⁴ Department of Physiotherapy, Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India

⁵ Department of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

⁶ Department of Oral and Craniofacial Health Sciences, College of Dental Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

⁷ Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

⁸ Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

⁹ School of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

¹⁰ Department of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmacotherapeutics, College of Pharmacy, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

*these authors contributed equally