(1362) The Effect of Pharmacist Job Setting on Workplace Breastfeeding Support Among U.S. Pharmacist Mothers

Objectives: Anecdotal evidence suggests that pharmacist mothers experience significant barriers to expressing breastmilk at work, but there is limited data on this topic. The aims of this study are to assess the current level of workplace breastfeeding support among U.S. pharmacist mothers and to compare the level of support experienced by mothers in different pharmacy job settings.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, an electronic survey was distributed on social media using targeted ads and by posting the link to groups dedicated to pharmacist mothers. Data was collected from January 30, 2023 to February 22, 2023. The survey consisted of the validated Workplace Breastfeeding Support Scale (WBSS) and questions on demographics, breastfeeding history and goals, and pharmacy workplace characteristics. The study’s inclusion criteria included U.S. pharmacist mothers who had had a baby since January 1, 2013, and breastfed their baby while working as a pharmacist. The exposure of interest was the pharmacist job setting divided into retail versus non-retail settings. The primary outcome was the mean WBSS score; WBSS scores range from 1 to 7, with a lower WBSS score indicating less workplace breastfeeding support. Secondary outcomes were the mean scores of the four component dimensions of the WBSS: break time, environmental support, technical support, and workplace policy. A sensitivity analysis was conducted by recategorizing the exposure categories into retail chain, independent retail, hospital, and other job settings. Covariates were characterized by exposure category using Chi-squared tests and Fisher’s Exact tests. Crude and adjusted analyses of the exposure and outcomes were performed using linear regression. All quantitative analyses were performed with Stata 17.0.

Results: A total of 271 mothers completed the survey and met inclusion criteria. Retail pharmacists when compared to non-retail pharmacists were significantly more likely (p < 0.001) to be the only pharmacist working in a shift, describe their workload as unreasonable, report that they were unable to take lunch breaks or bathroom breaks as needed, and say their performance was measured by metrics. Pharmacists working in a retail setting had significantly lower (p < 0.001) WBSS scores than pharmacists working in non-retail settings (WBSS scores of 3.9 versus 4.7, respectively). Retail pharmacists also had significantly lower (p < 0.001) scores on three of the four WBSS sub-dimensions (break time, environmental support, and technical support) when compared to non-retail pharmacists; differences in the break time dimension were the most notable (WBSS-Break Time scores of 3.6 versus 5, respectively). The sensitivity analysis showed that pharmacists in the retail chain job setting had the lowest WBSS scores in all sub-dimensions except workplace policy when compared to pharmacists in the independent retail, hospital, and other job settings. Several retail chain pharmacists reported feeling unsupported and stressed trying to express breastmilk at work.

Conclusions: Many pharmacist mothers face barriers to expressing breastmilk at work. Pharmacist mothers working in a retail setting, especially those working in retail chain pharmacies, had less workplace breastfeeding support than pharmacist mothers who worked in other job settings. Difficulties encountered with taking breaks to express breastmilk may explain some of the differences seen between pharmacy job settings.