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UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA
WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT AND COPING BEHAVIOUR: A STUDY OF MARRIED NURSES
AINI MAT SAID
FPP 1997 26
WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT AND COPING BEHAVIOUR: A STUDY OF MARRIED NURSES
By
AINI MAT SAID
Project Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science (Human Resource Development)
In The Faculty of Educational Studies
Universiti Putra Malaysia
OCTOBER 1997
Project Paper entitled "Work-Family Conflict And Coping Behaviour: A Study Of Married Nurses", prepared by Aini binti Mat Said has partially ful fi lled the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science (Human Resource Development), Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Approved by:
Aminah Ahmad, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Head Department of Extension Education Faculty of Educational. Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan. (Project Supervisor)
Date:
Department of Extension Education Faculty of Educational Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan.
(Examiner)
Da(e�
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful . Peace and B lessings Upon
His Messenger and Servant, Muhammad. There is No god but Allah and Muhammad is
His Apostle.
All praise be to Allah S WT who has given me the guidance and strength (0 be
steadfast in my pursuit of knowledge amidst trials and challenges. I would l ike to
express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to the fol lowing individuals and
organisations for their encouragement and assistance throughout my study and during
the conduct of this research:
Associate Professor Dr. Aminah Ahmad, who has been my academic advisor and projcct
supervisor. Her knowledge and wisdom have enlightened and guided me in overcoming
the challenges faced in the course of my Masters programme.
All faculty members and staff of the Centre for Extension and Continuing Education
(PPPL, UPM) for their warmth , concern, and understanding which have made my study
an endurable and pleasant experience.
11
The staff and the nurses of the hospital for their cooperation 111 this research . My
heartfelt thanks specially to Puan Rosiah Ahmad who has given a lot of assistance in the
conduct of the research without which it would not have materialised.
My fel low classmates who were ever will ing to offer assistance, shared their rich
experiences and for their friendship that is appreciated.
My father, Mat Said Abdul Latif who has always gIven me motivation ancl
encouragement for the pursuit of excellence.
Finally, I would not be where I am today in my personal and academic achievements if i t
was not for the love, understanding, patience and support of my beloved husband,
Fakhru' l-Razi Ahmadun and my children; Muhammad Soffee-Ullah, Asiyah Hananah,
Maryam Nahdiyah, Khadijah Najwa, Fatimah Zahrah, Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, and Umar
AI-Faruq.
III
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 11
LIST OF TABLES IV
ABSTRACT
ABSTRAK
CHAPTER
V111
. . . . . . . . . . . . .............................. ........... . ... . .. . . .. . . . .... . . . . .... . . . . . .. . . . . x
I INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . ..... .......... . . . .............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . ... 1 The Problem and Its Context . . . . . ......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Statement of Problem ....... ........ . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Objective ...... . . . . .................. ... .... .. . . .......... . . . .... . . . . . . . " . . . . . . 8 Specific Objectives .. .. .. . . . ............ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 S ignificance of Study . . . . . . . . ..... . ........... . . . ............................ 9 Assumptions . .. . . . . . . . ..... . . . ................ ........ . ............ . . . . . . . .... . . . . 1 0 Limitations . . . . . . . ...... . ........ ............ . . .. . .... . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . .... . . . . . . 1 0 Definition o f Terms ................. ............ . . ...... . ..... ...... . . . . . . . . . . 1 1
I I LITERATURE REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 Work and Family Relationships . . . . . ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 Concept of Work-Family Conflict . . . . . . . . ........ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 Work Schedule ..... . . . .... .. . . ..... ..... . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Consequences of Work-Family Conflict . . . . . ..... . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Coping Strategies . . . . ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
III METHODOLGY . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . 34 Research Design ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Hypotheses . . . . . . . ................ ...... .. .. ...... . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 35 Measurement and Instrumentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . 35 Population and Sampl ing Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Data Collection .... . . . ..... . . ........ . . .. . . . . . . . . . .... . . . . . .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Data Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
IV FINDINGS ......... .. . .... ........... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3 Demographic Variables .. . . . . . . . ....... . . . . . .. . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Work-Family Conflict . . .. .. .. . . . . . . . . . ..... ......... . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 5 1 Coping Strategies .... . . . ........... ....... ........... . . . . . ........ . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 55
IV
V DISCUSSION, IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS ......... ... . ............................. . . . ....... 64 Objective One ................... . . . . . ...... .... . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . ..... . . . . .......... 65 Objective Two ........... ......... ..... . . . . . . . . . . ....... . . . ....... . . . . ............. 67 Objective Three . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Policy and Practical Implications ........ ................ . . . . . . . . ......... 7 1 Recommendations . . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........ .... ........ . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. 73
Personnel Policy and Management Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . .... . . .... . . . . . ..... .... . . . .. 73 Recommendations for Further Research . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . 77
I3IBLH)GRAPIIY . .......................... .... . . ..... ................ . . . . . . . .................... . . . . . 78
APPENDICES
A Letter of Permission From The Hospital ' s Management ..... 86
B Research Questionnaire .......... . . ...... . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . ...... . . . . . . . 88
C Borang Soalsel idik . . . ....................... . . . . . . ......................... . . . . 93
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH . . . ... . . . . ......... ......... ............. . . . . . . . . . ........ . . . ....... . . 97
v
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
Reliabil ity Coefficient of Variables at Pre-Test and Final Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 8
2 Distribution of Respondents Selected From Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1
3 Distribution of Respondents by Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4 Distribution of Respondents' Academic Qualification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5
5 Distribution of Respondents by Tenure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6 Distribution of Respondents by Salary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
7 Distribution of Respondents by Position in Employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
8 Distribution of the Number of Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9 Distribution of Children by Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
1 0 Distribution of Respondents by Availability of House Helpers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
1 1 Distribution of Respondents on Child-Care Arrangement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
12 Means and Standard Deviations of Items Measur�ng Work-Family Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
1 3 Respondents' Score of Work-Family Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
1 4 Distribution of Respondents by Work-Family Conflict Intensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
1 5 Means and Standard Deviations of Items Measuring Type I Coping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
VI
1 6 Means and Standard Deviations of Items Measuring Type II Coping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 7
1 7 Means and Standard Deviations of Items Measuring Type III Coping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
1 8 Means and Standard Deviations of Respondents' Mean Score for Coping Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
1 9 Means and Standard Deviations of Eight Most Dominant Coping Strategies for Shift Nurses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
20 Means and Standard Deviations of Eight Most Dominant Coping Strategies for Non-Shift Nurses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1
vii
Abstract of Research Project submitted to the Department of Extension Education, Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia in partial fulfi l lment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Science (Human Resource Development).
WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT AND COPING BEHAVIOUR: A STUDY OF MARRIED NURSES
By
Aini binti Mat Said
October 1997
Supervisor: Asssoc. Prof. Dr. Aminah Ahmad
Faculty: Department of Extension Education, Faculty of Educational Studies.
The aim of the research was to examine the work-family conflict of married
women nurses and analysed their coping strategies. It was hypothesised that
shiftwork would heightened the intensity of work-family conflict. Data fro l11 243
nurses were col lected from one of the hospitals in Kuala Lumpur, using sel f
administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and t-test analysis were util i sed to
analyse the data.
Overall the nurses experienced low to moderate l evel of work-family conflict
intensity. From the t-test analysis, it was found that there was no significant
viii
difference between the mean of the work-family conflict experienced by the nurses
who worked on shift schedule and those who worked during normal hours.
The most frequently adopted coping strategy was Type III (reactive role
behaviour) strategy. This entails organising wcll and working hard to meet all the
role demands expected of them. The next strategy which was regularly used in
managing the work-family conflict was the Type II (personal role redefinition) which
i nvolves changing their own attitudes and perceptions of role expectations. Type I
structural role redefinition which involves an active attempt to deal directly with role
senders and lessen the conflict by mutual agreement on a new set of expectations was
found to be the least popular coping strategy.
IX
Abstrak Projek Penyelidikan yang dikemukakan kepada Jabatan Pendidikan Pengembangan, Fakulti Pengaj ian Pendidikan, Universiti Putra Malaysia sebagai memenuhi sebahagian daripada keperluan untuk mendapatkan Ijazah Master Sains (Pembangunan Sumber Manusia).
KONFLIK AN TARA PERANAN KERJA DAN KELUARGA SERTA STRATEGI DAYA TINDAK: KAJIAN TERHADAP
JURURAWAT YANG BERKAHWIN
Oleh
Aini binti Mat Said
Oktober 1997
Penyelia: Prof. Madya Dr. Aminah Ahmad
Fakulti: Jabatan Pendidikan Pengembangan, Fakulti Pengajian Pendidikan
Penyelidikan ini bertujuan untuk mengkaj i konflik antara peranan kerja dan
keluarga bagi jururawat yang telah berkahwin serta menganalisis strategi pengurusan
konflik tersebut. Adalah dijangkakan bahawa kerja giliran akan memberi kesan yang
positif terhadap tahap konflik pekerjaan-keluarga. Data dari 243 jururawat dari
sebuah hospital di Kuala Lumpur telah diambi l menggunakan soalselidik yang diurus
sendiri. Analisis statistik diskriptif and ujian-t telah digunakan untuk menganalisis
data.
x
Secara keseluruhan jururawat-jururawat dalam kajian mengalami tahap
konflik antara peranan kerja dan keluarga ditahap rendah hingga scderhana.
Daripada ujian-t, keputusan menunjukkan bahawa tidak ada perbezaan nilai purata
konflik antara peranan kerja dan keluarga yang bercrti diantara jururawat yang
bekerja secara giliran dan yang bekerja pada waktu biasa.
Strategi daya tindak yang paling selalu digunakan ialah Jenis III strategi
reaktif. Ia melibatkan perancangan rapi dan seseorang perlu bekerja keras untuk
memenuhi segala tuntutan yang diharapkan. Stategi seterusnya yang selalu
digunakan untuk menangani konflik pekerjaan-keluarga ialah Jenis II pendefinisian
semula peranan secara peribadi yang melibatkan pengubahan sikap dan pescpsi diri
terhadap tuntutan peranan. Jenis I pendefinisian semula peranan secara struktur
adalah yang paling kurang digunakan. Ini melibatkan pendefinisian semula harapan
orang lain supaya tuntutan yang berkonflik terhadap seseorang berkurangan.
xi
CHAPTER!
INTRODUCTION
The Problem and Its Context
Health is an integral part of socio-economic development. The provisi on of
improved health services wil l not only l ead to a better qual ity of l i fe through general
improvement of health conditions but an increase in productivity due to reduction of
l ost of working hours through i llness. As such health has always been on the nation 's
development agenda since the F irst Malaysia Plan( 1 965-l969) unti l the present
Seventh Malaysia P lan ( 1 996-2000). One of the development thrusts of the Seventh
Malaysia Plan was to improve the quality of l ife of the citizens. Health wh ich is one
of the vital components for a better quali ty of l ife is thus given a priority . I Iowcvcr
the delivery of efficient and quality health services depends to a large extent on the
avai labi lity and quality of human resources.
Within a span of two decades Malaysia has been successful in bringing about a
socia-economic transformation of the society which has enabled al l Malaysians to
enjoy a better qual ity of l ife . In the 1 960s, Malaysia was preoccupied with the
2
objective of creating sufficient jobs in the labour surplus economy. However in the
1 990's the economy i s facing a serious problem of labour shortage.
Currently the public health service is facing a shortage of medical (doctors,
dent ist, and pharmacists) and al lied health professionals ( medical assistants and
nurses) and i s expected to persist until the year 2000. Even though the doctor
population rat io decreases s l ightly between 1 990 and 1 992, the nurse-population
ratio increases from 1 : 1 535 to 1 : 1 5 85 during the same period (MTR 6MP,
Government of Malaysia, 1 993) . By the year 2000 the public health sector i s
forecasted to face a shortage of 273 9 nurses (staff nurses, community nurses,
assistant nurses, and m idwives) (RM 7, Government of Malaysia, 1 996) . This is
mainly due to the rapid growth of private hospitals and expansion in publ ic health
faci lities, as a result of increased demand for more and better health services arising
from substantial i ncome growth in the economy . The more attractive pay and better
working environment had also lured them to leave the public service to j oin the
private sector. Various steps were undertaken by the government in order to
overcome the shortage of manpower. As a short-term measure, more foreign nurses
were recruited to fill the vacancies in public and private health inst i tutions.
Despite the shortage of manpower, the publ ic health sector is cxpected to
improve the quality of its services. With the shortage of personncl,the contribut ion to
growth and excel lence must inevitably come from improvements i n productivity and
efficiency. For effective functioning of the organisation, the psychological health of
the workforce is critical (Fallon, 1 997). Therefore attending to the needs of the
3
individual ' s psychological wel l being has to bc an integral part of the organisation.
The challenge to the health sector i s not only to be able to retain the qual ified and
experienced manpower but being able to attract and recruit new ones.
Females constituted 49.8 percent of the total Malaysian population of 1 9 .7
mil l ion in 1 994. The percentage of the females who were 111 the work ing-agc
group( 1 5 -64 years) was 48 percent but they accounted for only one third of thc total
labour force ( 7MP, Government of Malaysia, 1 996). Even though the labour force
participation rate for female has been increasing from 3 7.2 percent in 1 970 to 45 . 8
percent i n 1 990 and 47. 1 percent in 1 995, the present female labc1ur participation rate
is i nadequate. I n the face of labour shortage, integration and mobil isation of women
in the existing development process is inevitable in order to fully util ise the available
human resources.
The relatively low participation of women despite the increase in their
educational attainment and buoyancy of the job market had been identified as due to
several constraints. The dual and often competing responsibilities of family and
career restrict the mobility and increased the participation of \"omen in thc l abour
market; social norms and prejudices regarding the role and status of women in
society and in the labour market restrained their involvement in economic activities;
and Labour laws and legislation that were not consi stent with the dynamic changes in
the labour market (7MP, Government of Malaysia, 1 996). In addition to these,
Aminah ( l 995b) added that the lack of support for traditional tasks per/()I"111cd by
women poses a constraint to women's participation in the labour force. The
4
genderdisation o f domestic work places women to be responsible for household work
including child care. As such these household responsibi l ities did not diminish when
they participated in gainful employment outside the home.
I n Malaysia,nursing is a female dominated job. Married nurses wit! l�lce
conflicts arising from multiple roles that they have to perform. The role expectations
of work and family domains are not always compatihle, creating con ll ictc; between
work and family l ife . The normative expectations of society which traditionally
suggest that women should stil l maintain their roles as mother and homemaker to tIle
ful lest extent, while at the same time maintaining their roles as employees are very
demanding. Many negative outcomes were related to these confl icts such as lower
job satisfaction and family satisfaction which was in turn signi ficantly related to life
sati sfaction (Aminah, 1 996a; Higgins et a1. , 1992), absenteeism at work
(VandenHeuvel and Wooden, 1 995) and health and well being (Adams et al . , 1996).
The nurses are normally required to work alternating mu l tiple shi fts. Shin
work was found to be related to increased role conflict betweC'l1 work and family,
disrupt ion of fami ly rol es and psychosomatic complaints (Staines and Pleck, 1 984),
increased burnout as a consequence of work-fami ly confl ict (Bacharach et a1 . , 1991)
and affected marital stability (White and Keith, 1 990).
In order to manage or reduce the amount of confl ict, they used coplllg
strategies. Mediating the relationship between role strain (the ind ividual's appra isa l
of the level of conflict between roles and the degree of overload experienced from
attempting to meet multiple role demands) and emotional stress were various coping
resources and responses that served to prevent, avoid or control emotional stress, or
manage problems causing distress (Monat and Lazarus, 1 985; Guelzow et a\. , 1 99 1 ,
Paden and Buehler, 1 995; Parasuraman et aI . , 1 992). Thus there will be ongoing need
for programs that provide individuals with skills which would enable them to more
effectively manage and less destructively cope with the stressful experiences at WOl k
and at home (Fal lon, 1 997).
In the future, the dual-income l ifestyle will become more prevalent in
Malaysia. For these women, the prime working years have been a combination and
sequencing of homemaking and paid labour. This implies that the years of heaviest
family responsibil ities coincide with the years most heavily invested in build ing a
career. Thus the study on the effect of combining employment with family
responsibi l ities and the coping strategies of the married nurses would contribute
towards understanding the predicament of employed married women.
For the employed married women to be productive at their work p lace whi le
at the same time being able to carry out their responsibi lit i es at hl)me, they need to be
able to balance the demands of these two domains. The issue of work-family balance
is not just an issue of personal problem but it is also of corporate and government
concerns because the impact of work-family conflict is far reaching, affecting not
only the personal lives of the workers and their famil ies but their work performances
(Kinnunen et aI . , 1 996). If work-related problems and responsibi l ities interfere with
family-related obligations, these unfulfilled obl igations may begin to interfere with
6
day-to-day functioning at work. Therefore all the parties involved have to address thc
issue of the work-family conflict and find ways to overcome the problem. The human
resource personnel of organisations have to identify factors at the workplace that
have the potential to increase work related stress that can impinge on family l ife .
Human resource development wi l l be the most challenging in the years to
come. For Malaysia to achieve a status of a developed nation by the year 2020,
strong and sound human resource development policies and programs are
fundamental requirements to its success.
Statement of Problem
Nursing is a very worthy but demanding profession that calls upon its
members for the ultimate form of giving and the unselfish caring for others. Ongoing
demands of patients, superiors and coworkers can however create stress even for the
hardiest of nurses. For married nurses with children, they have added responsibilitics
as the wife, mother, and homemaker. Concerns about combining ful l-timc
employment with adequate performance in the child-care and housekeeper roles secm
to have been the major constraints faced by employed mothers. The role expectations
of these two domains are not always compatible,creating conflicts bctween work and
family life .
Work family conflict as a source of stress had been l inked to many
undesirable effects. Among these were reduced life satisfaction (Aminal1, 1996a).
7
burnt out (Higgins et a1. , 1 992), increased health risk for employed parents
(Bacharach et aI . , 1 99 1 ), poorer performance of the parenting role ( Kel ly and
Voydanoff, 1 985), and decreased productivity at work (Greenhaus and Beute l l ,
1 985) .
I n order to manage the conflicting pressures of their work and fami ly
responsibi l ities, these individuals continual ly develop perceptual or beh:JViourill
coping strategies. Ineffective coping mechanisms were shown to affect stress leve ls
(Guelzow et aI . , 1 99 1 and Guinta and Compas, 1 993) and physical symptomatology
(Paden and Buehler, 1 995). How an individual copes with the demands and
responsibilities of multiple domains would provide a better understanding of ways
the individual responds to stress in their daily l ife . Given that individuals can
experience stress from the two spheres, better ways of coping with the stress they
experience must be'
managed from both the individual and organisational
perspectives (Fallon, 1 997).
For the married nurses,balancing the demands of work and home
responsib i l i t ies are the ir principle dai ly tasks and can be demanding and stressfu l .
Nursing is a career as a professional caregiver. A s such the wel l-being and health of
caregivers are critical to enhancing the care that they provide to their patients.
Despite the fact that more married women were drawn into Malaysian ' s
labour market, relatively few studies were undertaken to investigate the problems or
balancing work and family responsibilities. Although work-related stress is common
to all occupations,nursing is characterised by relatively intense stress, h igh job
turnover, and early burnout (Jackson et aI . , 1 986 and Bacharach et aI . , 1 99 1 ) . Hence
this study was undertaken to determine the level of work-fami ly conflict intensity o f
married nurses and to analyse thei r copi ng strategies in managing the conf1 ict .
Objective
General Objective
The objective of the study is to investigate the i ntensity of work fami ly
conflict experienced by married female nurses at one of the hospi tal s in the K lang
Val ley and to analyse their coping behaviour i n managing the confl ict.
Specific Objectives
The speci fic objectives of the study were as fol lows :
1 . To determine the intensity of the work-fami ly confl ict experienced by the
nurses.
2. To examine the differences in the i ntensity of work-fami ly conll ict
between the shift and non-shift nurses.
3. To analyse the types of coping strategies used in manag ing the work
bmily conf1 i ct.
Significance of Study
This study would reinforce the cognition of work-fami ly interactions and the
interdependence of work and fami ly roles. Therefore i t is not just an individual ' s
issue but also o f organisation and government concern.
It would help an individual to be aware of the sources of connict between
work and family l ife and the level of intensity of work-family conflict one i s
experiencing. This awareness can be a powerful motivator for an individual to takc
positive actions.
The findings would offer suggestions for formulation of human rcsourcc
development pol icies and practices that would help individuals balance the dcmands
of paid work and home responsibilities.
The results would offer the organisation suggestions of continuing education
programs that would provide individuals with ski l ls which would enable them to
manage more effectively stressful experiences at work and at home.
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Assumptions
The primary assumption in this study was that work and family domains were
the two most central realms of the married women.
The individuals in the study were assumed to have similar Icvels or
commitment to their job and family . Those who rcgarded their employmcnt as johs
and those who regarded as careers may exhibit dissimilar evaluations of their job and
off-job l ives.
The nurses were assumed to be females.
Limitations
The respondents in the study were nurses who were working in a SCJ11I
government hospital that served as a teaching hospital to one of the local universities.
The work demand and work environment may not necessarily be' simi lar to the othcr
types of hospitals, government, or private hospitals that exi st in the country. Thus the
findings of the study may not be generalised to all the nurses in Malaysia.
This study was only gauging the l evel of work-family conflict expericnced by
the employed wife of dual-earner family who had at least one chi ld and they were
l iving together.
1 1
The focus of the study was the level of interrole conflict experienced due to
the effect of work on housework and family responsibilities. Other non-work rol es
such as involvement i n community work, religious organisations, or health and
recreational clubs were not considered.
Only the general choice of COpll1g strategies were assessed from the
respondents. The type of i nterrole conflict (worker-wife, worker-mother, or worker
homemaker) was not specified to them.
Definition of terms
Coping: the nature of responses that individuals adopt to manage or reduce
stress.
I nterlope conflict: it is a form of conflict in which role pressures associated
with membership in one organization are in conflict with pressures stemming
from membership in other organizations.
Personal role redefinition: involves changing the person's perception of h is or
her role demands rather than attempting to change the environment.
Reactive role behavior: attempts to meet all the role demands experienced.
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Structural role redefinition: involves redefining the expectations held by other
people so that fewer conflicting demands are placed upon the person and a
new set of behaviors i s expected from that person by members of the ro Ie set.
Work-family conflict: a form of interlope conflict in which the demand" of,
time devoted to and strain created by the job interfere with performing fami ly
related responsibilities.
