Donna S. Lero

Self-esteem, locus of control, and adolescent contraception.

The relationships between locus of control, self-esteem, and attitudes to contraception and contraceptive behaviors were assessed for 486 single women of ages 13 to 20, attending 10 birth control centers in Southern Ontario, Canada. The Ss voluntarily filled out a questionnaire, and the data were measured with the Fatalism scale of Reid and Wares I-E scale, a Likert-type self-esteem scale, and a semantic differential birth control pill scale. There were no significant relationships between locus of control and any of the contraception variables. Ss with high self-esteem were found to have positive attitudes toward using birth control pills, to be less embarrassed about obtaining contraception, and to be more effective and consistent contraceptive users.

Self-employment and family life: constructing work–life balance when you're ‘always on’

This study explores how men and women who are self-employed and have children living at home construct work–life balance. Guided by the concept of work–life fit, in-depth interviews were conducted with 22 parents who were self-employed and had at least one dependent child. Using thematic analysis, the first theme, ‘in control,’ related primarily to schedule flexibility but also extended to income opportunities and, sometimes, to job security. Feelings of control were experienced and expressed in relation to shortcomings of previous job experiences, business location, and preferences for raising children. The second theme, ‘always on,’ meant that parents expected to be both readily accessible to children and available to clients, while continually pursuing income opportunities. This contributed to time pressure, although some viewed participation in volunteer and childrens activities as a form of business networking. Work–life balance was described in terms of time, activity, or experience. Most participants believed self-employment contributes positively, but some questioned whether work–life balance is possible. Parents mostly followed traditional gender role patterns. Some fathers resisted this arrangement and saw self-employment as a way to participate more actively in family life. Implications and directions for further research are discussed.

Work-Family Integration: Introduction and Overview

Publisher Summary This chapter explains public discourse about the challenges and the importance of integrating work and family life and how these have expanded and attained a degree of visibility that is hard to ignore. The work–family or work–life interface itself reflects the variety of experiences, constraints, supports, and opportunities that individuals and groups experience in the unique cultures that make up their workplace and their specific role in it. Understanding and supporting a healthy integration of work and life within the wide range of public, private, and non-profit organizations now require a complex understanding of individual, group, and organizational forces. It describes the work–family interface; it is necessary to understand why problems with integrating the work and family domains of life arise and what consequences result from a lack of work–family integration. It looks at the outcomes associated with the work–family interface in the work domain, the family domain, and the health and well-being domain. Then they differentiate between the various constructs that are used in the work–family literature to characterize the positive side of the work–family interface. It begins by examining outcomes pertaining to work–family conflict and reviews the research that has been done on job attitudes, career outcomes, performance-related outcomes, and withdrawal intentions and behaviors.

Assumptions, Research Gaps and Emerging Issues: Implications for Research, Policy and Practice

Publisher Summary This chapter summarizes current knowledge about many aspects related to combining paid work and family responsibilities—a field of research and policy analysis that is rich in its scope and complexity and that is expanding very rapidly. The goal in this chapter is three-fold. First, it identifies the importance of recognizing a wide range of assumptions that explicitly and implicitly narrow the topics that are studied as researchers, interpretations of the meaning of results, and the range of implications and options that suggest for promoting change at the individual, workplace, and policy level. Even what might appear to be fairly effective work–family reconciliation policies may require rethinking if their implementation is based on assumptions and criteria that reduce their utility and effectiveness. Secondly, and related to surfacing assumptions, is effort to identify some significant gaps and areas where new research is needed to expand and deepen our understanding. Finally, it comments on two emerging issues: increasing migration within and across countries, and the challenges that growing numbers of workers will experience in combining work and elder care or care for a family member with an acute or chronic health condition. It highlights the complexity of work, family, and societal systems and the interactions between them.

It doesn't always add up: examining dual-earner couples' decision to off-shift

Grounded in social exchange theory and symbolic interactionism, this study examines the decision-making processes, as well as perceived costs and benefits to Canadian dual-earner couples working complementary shifts to manage work and care responsibilities. Qualitative data from 12 dyads and one individual were used to explore the meanings and priorities that couples attached to costs and rewards of an off-shifting arrangement. For most couples, the decision to off-shift reflected an incongruent cost–benefit analysis. Most couples reported that despite its costs, off-shifting was the best arrangement for them to simultaneously achieve their work and family goals. One of the most commonly reported benefits was increased father involvement. Implications for workplace policy are discussed.

Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Nutrition Education Program for Informal (Unlicensed) Child Caregivers

Abstract A nutrition education program was developed for Canadian informal (unlicensed) child caregivers and offered both by mail and as workshops. The main goals were to (1) improve menu planning skills and (2) increase self-efficacy for planning healthy menus and dealing with problem eating behaviors. Preprogram measures were completed by 73 participants; 50 completed the same measures postprogram. Both formats of the program resulted in greater menu planning knowledge (p

The influence of self-efficacy beliefs for student parents attending university

Student parents (i.e. students who have their own dependent children) are a specific subpopulation of adult learners. This study investigated the impact of self-efficacy beliefs on student parents’ perceived capacity to manage multiple roles and their satisfaction with family, school and life. Survey data collected from 398 student parents enroled at four Canadian universities were analysed. Latent variable analysis was conducted using maximum likelihood estimation with robust standard errors using Mplus. Self-efficacy beliefs were found to influence student parents’ perceptions of satisfaction at school, in the family and with life in general. Perceptions of one’s capacity to manage multiple roles (i.e. school–family balance) were found to mediate the relationship between academic self-efficacy and school satisfaction as well as parental self-efficacy and family satisfaction. Furthermore, preliminary evidence is provided of unique subgroups within the student parent population based on children’s ages, partner status and enrolment status (i.e. full/part-time studies).

Understanding the association between time spent caregiving and well-being among employed adults: testing a model of work-life fit and sense of community

ABSTRACT This study examines factors associated with work–life fit and sense of geographic community as mediators of the negative association between caregiving demands and well-being among employed informal caregivers. Data were drawn from a larger project assessing well-being among residents of three mid-size cities in Ontario, Canada. A subsample was selected of informal caregivers who worked for pay for at least eight hours/week (n = 276). Caregiving demands were measured by time spent caring for an adult who was a relative, friend, or neighbour. Well-being followed a holistic conceptualization advanced by the Canadian Index of Wellbeing. The more time spent caregiving, the lower participants’ well-being ratings were. This association was mediated by perceived time adequacy, income adequacy, and sense of community, such that the more time participants spent caregiving, the lower their ratings of these three resources. This explained the initial association of caregiving hours with reduced well-being. Enhanced well-being was more strongly associated with sense of community than any other factor, which supports the importance of the community domain in understanding well-being among employed caregivers and suggests its further testing with other population groups. Policy implications for employers and community organizations are provided.

Gender, polychronicity, and the work–family interface: is a preference for multitasking beneficial?

ABSTRACT This study examined how polychronicity, or the preference to do several things concurrently, was related to work and family overload, work–family conflict, and outcomes in the work, family, and life domains (i.e. turnover intent, family, and life satisfaction). Using conservation of resources theory as a framework, polychronicity was conceptualized as a resource that could be used to reduce work and family overload. The participants were 553 employed parents from Canada and the US. Results indicated that polychronicity was related to lower work overload. Lower work overload was related to lower work interference with family conflict, lower turnover intent, and higher family and life satisfaction. We also examined gender differences and found that, although women scored significantly higher than men on family overload and family satisfaction, and significantly lower than men on life satisfaction, there was no mean gender difference on polychronicity. In addition, the path coefficients in the model were not significantly different for men and women.

Evaluation of caregiver-friendly workplace policy (CFWPs) interventions on the health of full-time caregiver employees (CEs): implementation and cost-benefit analysis

BackgroundCurrent Canadian evidence illustrating the health benefits and cost-effectiveness of caregiver-friendly workplace policies is needed if Canadian employers are to adopt and integrate caregiver-friendly workplace policies into their employment practices. The goal of this three-year, three study research project is to provide such evidence for the auto manufacturing and educational services sectors. The research questions being addressed are: What are the impacts for employers (economic) and workers (health) of caregiver-friendly workplace policy intervention(s) for full-time caregiver-employees? What are the impacts for employers, workers and society of the caregiver-friendly workplace policy intervention(s) in each participating workplace? What contextual factors impact the successful implementation of caregiver-friendly workplace policy intervention(s)?MethodsUsing a pre-post-test comparative case study design, Study A will determine the effectiveness of newly implemented caregiver-friendly workplace policy intervention(s) across two workplaces to determine impacts on caregiver-employee health. A quasi-experimental pre-post design will allow the caregiver-friendly workplace policy intervention(s) to be tested with respect to potential impacts on health, and specifically on caregiver employee mental, psychosocial, and physical health. Framed within a comparative case study design, Study B will utilize cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis approaches to evaluate the economic impacts of the caregiver-friendly workplace policy intervention(s) for each of the two participating workplaces. Framed within a comparative case study design, Study C will undertake an implementation analysis of the caregiver-friendly workplace policy intervention(s) in each participating workplace in order to determine: the degree of support for the intervention(s) (reflected in the workplace culture); how sex and gender are implicated; co-workers’ responses to the chosen intervention(s), and; other nuances at play. It is hypothesized that the benefits of the caregiver-friendly workplace policy intervention(s) will include improvements in caregiver-employees’ mental, psychosocial and physical health, as well as evidence of cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness for the employer.DiscussionThe expected project results will provide the research evidence for extensive knowledge translation work, to be carried out in collaboration with our knowledge transition partners, to the employer/human resources and occupational health/safety target populations.Trial registrationISRCTN16187974 Registered August 25, 2016.