Stress and motivation of cell processing operators: A pilot study of an online questionnaire survey

Cell processing operators (CPOs) are one of the most important human assets for the industrial development of regenerative therapy since cell processing is still carried out manually. However, investigating the psychological aspects of CPOs to take advantage of this important human asset has not been done. Thus, the objectives of the current study were, first, to investigate the attributes of CPOs, second, to identify the factors that give CPOs mental stress, and third, to identify the motivational factors of CPOs.

An online questionnaire was conducted to investigate the attributes of participants, stresses, and motivations; the questionnaire included multiple-choice questions. A survey questionnaire was distributed to 64 operators in 31 CPFs, including universities, clinics, and pharmaceutical companies, from December 2021 to February 2022. Participants responded to the online survey via Microsoft Forms.

Approximately half of the CPOs had been employed for two years or less, and they were more likely to experience various stressful situations than CPOs with three or more years of experience. In particular, the wear of dust-free clothing and work in a unique environment of a clean room, where it is difficult to take breaks due to the nature of the closed space, were considered to be particularly stressful situations. However, these CPOs have high motivations based on their pride in being involved in cutting-edge medical care, which is highly expected by society, and in contributing to patient care.

While stress with training and education programs for CPOs is an issue that can be resolved through in-house training, other issues that are difficult to resolve immediately, such as mechanization to relieve the stress of human manual operations, were identified. Continued efforts to analyze and alleviate the stress factors identified in this study are expected to improve the quality of CPOs' work and maintain the important human asset of CPOs.