Introduction: The current changes in the society has led to an increase in the number of working females and it is important to investigate how these women handle both work and family roles, especially when they are appointed difficult shift work such as nursing jobs. This study aimed at exploring “how female nurses play their work and family roles”.
Methods: In this qualitative study, data was gathered from 20 female nurses, who were working at two educational hospitals via both individual and focus group interviews. Grounded theory presented by Strauss and Corbin 1998 guided the data analysis.
Results: Five categories emerged, including hard working conditions, high family role, ineffective support resources, and dissatisfaction. The emerged core category was “striving for continuity of work and family situation”.
Conclusions: Nurses faced inadequate support resources and mainly relied on their own abilities to play their family and work roles, thus their basic needs, such as sleep and rest was neglected. Finally, the health of nurses was affected and they perceived dissatisfaction, which led to low work efficiency and decreased quality of health care. Consideration of the health of nurses and improving their working conditions is recommended.

 

Keywords: Work Role, Family Role, Nurse

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