Resilience among clinical pharmacists and related factors: a cross-sectional study

Resilience has recently attracted attention as a means of coping with challenging situations. Although there have been several studies on resilience among healthcare professionals, there are limited reports on resilience among pharmacists. In this study, we conducted a survey of resilience among clinical pharmacists and examined factors related to self-efficacy, burnout, and work.

Clinical pharmacists at 38 medical institutions were surveyed regarding basic attributes, work status, resilience, self-efficacy, and burnout using a web-based questionnaire. Descriptive statistics for each survey item were calculated, and exploratory factor analysis was conducted. The relationships between resilience scores and each factor were examined using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (ρ), the Mann-Whitney U test, and the Kruskal-Wallis test. A multiple regression analysis was conducted using resilience scores as the objective variable and other factors as explanatory variables. The "Bidimensional Resilience Scale" was used to measure resilience.

Responses were obtained from 285 participants, which confirmed the reliability of the psychological scale. Factor analysis extracted five new factor structures but confirmed that the two-dimensional structure was maintained. The correlations were significant for self-efficacy, burnout, and the percentages of research, teaching, and other work (RTOW). Multiple regression analysis suggested that "self-efficacy" was the factor most strongly associated with resilience (overall), innate resilience, and acquired resilience.

This study revealed the relationship between resilience, self-efficacy, and RTOW among clinical pharmacists in Japan. Criterion-related validity was also evidenced by high self-efficacy. RTOW being newly identified as an associated factor in this context provides insights for further development of the scale.