AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
SELF-CARE OF WOMEN WITH DUAL ROLE OVERLOAD
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BEÁTA RÁCZOVÁ
Department of Psychology, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in
Košice, Moyzesova 9, 040 59 Košice, Slovak Republic
Email:
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beata.raczova@upjs.sk
This research was supported by the Slovak research and development agency under
contract no. APVV-14-0921.
Abstract: The main aim of the research was to examine the level of negative
consequences of workload (burnout and perceived stress) of women working in
helping professions due to the extent of overload within the family. The second aim of
the study was to clarify the self-care of women suffering from dual role overload. 112
women (M=38.4 years, SD = 10.43) who worked full-time and took care of at least
one child (min. age of the youngest child was in the range of 3-15 years) participated
in the research. All participants completed two instruments measuring burnout
syndrome (MBI-HSS), perceived stress (PSS-10), family overload and performed
activities of self-care (VSS). In general, women experience a medium level of
emotional exhaustion, higher than average level of perceived stress and higher than
average level of family strain. There were negative significant relationships of a slight
to moderate level found between the three areas of self-care (psychological, work and
health) on the one side and work (emotional exhaustion, perceived stress) and family
overload on the other. Women with a higher level of dual role overload (n= 44;
39.3%) significantly differed from women with a lower one (n=68, 60.7%). This was
particularly the case in the performance of psychological, work and health self-care. In
the area of self-care in terms of physical activities, there were no differences
identified.
The findings suggest that self-care can play an important role in reducing
the level of sensation of dual role overload on women working in helping professions.
Keywords: women, helping professions, emotional exhaustion, perceived stress, dual
role overload.
1 Dual role overload of women
Women enact many formal and informal roles in the society, but
family and work are the two most important domains in many
women’s daily life. The conflict of these two spheres often
causes excessive work and family burdens that can negatively
impact women’s overall quality of life. In addition, continuous
societal changes can reinforce these conflicts (Fedáková, Stangl,
Veira, 2008; Fedáková, 2009).
The topic of overload and finding a balance between work and
family has become a very current research area
(e.g. Győrffy,
Dweik, Girasek, 2016; Glynn, Maclean, Forte, Cohen, 2009).
Older research has already confirmed the significant negative
relationship between the stressors of work and family and the
subjective well-being of employed women, (e.g. Makowska,
1995). More recent studies (e.g. Erlandsson, Eklund, 2003;
Raskin, 2006) have highlighted the adverse impact the
combination of work and family responsibilities can have on
women. Portela et al. (2013) have also confirmed the negative
impact of the interaction between home strain and workload. In
this study, the authors mainly monitored physiological overload
indicators and blood pressure in particular.
The psychosocial characteristics of work and the diversity of
women´s roles have been examined in several studies (e.g.
Krantz, Ostergren, 2000; Krantz, Ostergren, 2001). These have
aimed to identify the important determinants of women’s health
and found that exposure to dual overload is a particular risk
factor. This causes women to perceive the level of multi-role
requirements as being above a certain limit, creating a potential
risk of developing imbalances, which in turn can cause the
worsening of overall health (Krantz, Berntsson, Lundberg,
2005). In comparison to men, women have a greater number of
health problems which are connected to overload (Krantz,
Ostergren, 2001). According to Nordenmark (2002), engaging in
multiple roles is a greater source of stress for women than for
men. Therefore, it is women living with dual role overload that
can be considered a risky group in terms of maintaining mental
health and subjective well-being, what can be more intensive
regarding women working in helping professions, similar to
what Győrffy et al. (2016) think of.
The higher risk of burnout and the incidence of mental health
problems among women working in helping professions has
been demonstrated in several studies, e.g. in the case of palliative
care nurses (Kuerer, Eberlein, Pollock, et al., 2007). Ahmad
(2010) found that a doctor’s family/work conflict has a
mediation impact on the relationship between overload and
emotional exhaustion. One of the explanations is based on the
effect that social and cultural expectations have (Dillaway, Paré,
2008). These expectations can lead women to believe that their
primary role is to be "babysitters" of children, family members,
clients, patients, or family and work relationships in general. The
effort of women to meet these high expectations can not only
lead to an overload at work and in the family, but also to the
development of burnout (Killian, 2008; Győrffy et al., 2016). In
addition to the profession that women do, it belongs to the
sphere of helping professions in which the imperative of caring
for others is multiplied, but the question of self-care, as well as
the prevention of the negative consequences of the helping, is
often neglected (Mesárošová et al., 2017).
The helping professions themselves are considered risky in terms
of the emergence and development of burnout syndrome (Griner,
2013; Pagnin et al. 2016). One of the reasons is the essence of
helping work which is a significant personal commitment and
has a low rate of return on personal investment (Honzák, 2009).
Excessive workloads are another cause of increasing stress. If
this stress exceeds the individual's ability to cope with it, it
becomes distress. When this becomes a long-term condition,
chronic psychosocial stress can develop and this is a generally
accepted reason for the development of burnout (Maslach,
Leiter, 2017).
Labour market gender representation statistics have shown that
segments of helping professions in Slovakia are significantly
feminized (Danielová, Lauko, 2015; Škoviera, 2015). This
multi-role status is represented in women in the current research
sample by the actual care of others at work as well as care of the
family. This creates a space for experiencing dual overload
(Krantz et al. 2005; Honea et al.; 2008).
1.1 Self-care in relation to role overload
One way of compensating or preventing the negative
consequences of helping work and simultaneous family
overload, is self-care (Honea et al., 2008; Skovholt, Trotter-
Mathison, 2016). The essence of self-care is the conscious
engagement of the individual in activities that enable him/her to
achieve, maintain or restore the state of physical and mental
well-being (Lovaš, 2014; Lovašová, 2016). According to Moore
et al. (2011), the most important task of self-care is reducing
stress. Other research among helping workers has shown that
performing activities in different areas of self-care (physical,
psychological, occupational, health...) not only leads to the
reduction of stress but also emotional exhaustion (the first level
in the burnout process) (Cohen-Katz et al., 2005; Alkema et al. ,
2008; Griner, 2013) and compassion fatigue (Kearney et al.,
2009; Köverová, 2018b). Richards et al. (2010) has presented
empirical evidence regarding the relationship between burnout
and self-care and the positive effect of these self-care activities
on the subjective well-being of those working in the helping
professions. These activities are those activities related to
physical, psychological, professional and spiritual areas.
Likewise, Barnett et al. (2007) has explained that self-care
prevents, disrupts, and minimizes the symptoms related to
burnout, as well as the other negative consequences of helping.
The self-care activities which can help professionals reduce
burnout include the ability to set priorities, searching for social
support, time management, ability to reassess the situation, self-
monitoring, reducing excessive burden e.g. relaxation or
participation in stress reduction activities (Baruch, 2004).
In accordance with the theoretical background, the objectives of
the presented research were formulated. The main aim was to
investigate the level of work overload (measured by emotional
exhaustion and perceived stress, Köverová, 2018a) and family
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