Alienation and/or Anomie in Pharmacists: A Protocol for a Narrative Systematic Review

Introduction: Accounts of alienation and/or anomie in pharmacists have been reported in historical accounts since the 19th century. Alienation and anomie are distinct types of psychological or social ills where people are problematically separated from, or their skills and values are misaligned with, others and their environment. Alienation and/or anomie can be important precursors of many negative work experiences, including job dissatisfaction, burnout, and/or intention to leave.

Methods and Analysis: We aim to study alienation and/or anomie in international pharmacists, reviewing all types of methodological designs, published in peer-reviewed journals, including all primary qualitative, quantitative, and/or mixed method research studies. We will narratively describe any focuses, causes, associated factors, and/or consequences of alienation and/or anomie. We will identify all published peer-reviewed research through searching seven electronic databases (MEDLINE, Embase, APA PsychINFO, CINAHL Plus, Cochrane Library, Web of Science Core Collection, and Scopus) and Google Scholar in May 2024. Extensive hand and citation-searching will also take place. Two independent reviewers will identify eligible studies, conduct a critical appraisal of study conduct, extract data, and synthesise reported findings by narratively exploring relationships within and between studies. The synthesis will follow a hybrid thematic analysis. Initially we will deductively structure the findings according to six themes from underpinning alienation and anomie theory: Care, Values, Meaning, Recognition, Autonomy, and Shared Responsibility. This structure may thereafter be inductively adapted, by creating new additional themes, if required from the data. A GRADE Confidence in the Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research approach will be used to determine a confidence profile of each theme. A thematic map showing the links between themes will also be produced.

Ethics and Dissemination: Ethical permission is not required, as this study uses data from published research. Dissemination will be through publication in peer-reviewed journals, and conference presentations.