Date of Award

6-2016

Document Type

Project

Degree Name

Master of Social Work

Department

School of Social Work

First Reader/Committee Chair

Dr. Janet Chang

Abstract

This project explored the way working mothers cope with home, work, family demands as well as self-care. It mainly focused on the balance they have been able to achieve in their lives as working women, wife, and mothers. This study used qualitative research to examine the challenges these women face in their working and personal lives, the support systems they rely on to fulfill their multiple roles, and the strategies and coping skills they utilize to maintain work and family life balance.

This study used an interview format with a qualitative method based. In this approach, primarily open-ended questions were used. The major focus was to explore and then compared participants’ responses to those questions. This method was chosen because it allows for a comparison of different experiences of a common topic

The challenges discussed by the working women included: (a) work schedule, (b) time constraints and (c) exhaustion. The participants relied on the following support systems to fulfill their multiple roles: (a) husbands, (b) grandparent and family, (c) co-workers, and (d) bosses. Finally, the strategies the working women used to achieve work/family balance included (a) planning, (c) faith, and (d) accepting limitations.

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