An investigation of pharmacists' role stress and the work/non-work interface

To gain a better understanding of pharmacists' role stress, the relationship between work role stressors (role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload and job stress) and the work/non-work interface (work-home conflict) was investigated. A 12-page mail questionnaire which included summated rating scales and demographic questions was sent to a national sample of 1088 pharmacists. Data analyses included descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling. Of those contacted, 70.9% responded. High role overload increased role ambiguity, role conflict and work-home conflict. High role ambiguity, role conflict and work-home conflict increased job stress. Work- home conflict mediated the relationships between several of the role stressors and job stress. These findings suggest that the inclusion of the work/non-work interface with time- and strain-based role stressors is important to the understanding of pharmacists' job stress.