Work-Life Balance.

There has been much written about work-life balance, both in nursing and other professions. Additionally, the term has taken on multiple definitions over the years, and it is often touted as central to an organization's mission. The Cambridge Dictionary defines work-life balance quite simply as "the amount of time you spend doing your job compared with the amount of time you spend with your family and doing things you enjoy." If it is such a simple concept, why is it such a dominant subject in nursing literature? This article explores the essential components of work-life balance, how health care organizations struggle to define it and differ in what they may promote on paper versus what they practice, and examine why work-life balance is crucial to nurses' overall well-being.

Labor shortage of physicians in rural areas and surgical specialties caused by Work Style Reform Policies of the Japanese government: a quantitative simulation analysis.

Objective: The Japanese government's physician workforce reform, which commenced in April 2024, introduced regulations on physicians' working hours. However, in areas facing physician shortages such as rural regions and surgical medical specialties, healthcare provision relies heavily on the extended working hours of each physician. The anticipated impact of this reform, when implemented, was significant. Materials and Methods: Using publicly available government data, we estimated the current working hours of physicians in various medical specialties in each prefecture across Japan. Subsequently, we calculated the ratio of surplus or deficit physicians when hypothetically assuming that all physicians adhered to the regulatory upper limit of 58.4 working hours per week nationwide. Results: Assuming that all physicians work to the regulated maximum, there would be a shortage of doctors in various medical specialties across Japan, such as surgery, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and emergency medicine. Geographically, shortages of doctors are observed in rural prefectures such as those in the Tohoku region, particularly in emergency- and surgery-related specialties, indicating a critical shortage of physicians in rural areas. Additionally, it has become evident that even in medical specialties with a calculated surplus of physicians nationwide, the margin of surplus is generally only a few percentage points. Conclusion: Currently, rural areas and surgical medical specialties in Japan have limited leeway in the physician workforce, and the strict application of workforce reform may lead to a severe shortage of physicians in these areas. It is noteworthy that as similar reforms may subsequently be implemented in other countries, analogous challenges would arise. Thus, the implementation of workforce reform requires a flexible approach to minimize its negative effects, which widen the existing disparity in the workforce.

Dual career in sport and non-sport work: Exploring experiences of North American professional female ice hockey players.

Grounded in role strain theory, this study explored the dual career experiences of North American female ice hockey players who were also involved in full-time non-sporting work, focusing on factors that produced and reduced their role strain. We interviewed ten professional ice hockey players who held full-time non-sport jobs at the time of their interview. Our reflexive thematic analysis revealed that the multitude of factors leading to role strain among professional female working-athletes were notably significant, spanning societal expectations and environmental complexities. The imposition of the superwoman persona, demanding excellence in both hockey and work roles, combined with inconsistent expectations from professional and athletic supervisors intensified stress and undermined well-being. The study's findings emphasize the need for robust support systems and adaptive strategies, such as effective communication, careful planning, and proactive self-care, which can mitigate these pressures. Furthermore, the athletes' narratives revealed a pressing call for empathy and flexibility from coaches, employers, and the broader sports community, suggesting that improvements in these areas could enhance the professional and personal experiences of these working-athletes. The findings provide valuable insights into the challenges faced by dual career female athletes, as well as current strategies aimed at supporting and enhancing their experiences. Furthermore, these results deepen our understanding of how professional female athletes in North America can achieve greater well-being by addressing the factors that produce and reduce role strain factors.

Work-life integration among nurse educators: a meta-synthesis.

Background: Work-life integration has been extensively researched in various contexts. Women dominate the nursing profession, but work-life integration is essential for men and women since both are expected to focus equally on their families and careers. The nursing faculty perceives nurse educators' work environment as undervalued, lacking support, and limited time to grow and carry the heavy workload. Method: A qualitative meta-synthesis of studies between 2013 and 2023 was conducted using ScienceDirect, EBSCO Host, Sage and Sabinet databases. Seven articles related to the research phenomenon were retrieved. Conclusion: The resulting themes revolved around two central aspects: nurse educators' work and life integration. Nurse educators face various challenges with work-life integration and often view their failure as a personal rather than a societal issue. However, as much as achieving work-life integration is personal, there is a call for employers in academic environments to improve workplace policies, like better-paid maternity leave, affordable quality childcare, and social support. Furthermore, nurse educators' line managers should display warmth and encouragement about personal challenges affecting nurse educators.

Work-life balance and employee commitment: mediating effect of job satisfaction.

Introduction: Work is very important to man and work experiences have implications on other aspects of human life. The major essence of work is to obtain resources to optimize other domains of life. This demands the need to strike a balance. Flowing from the positive and negative effect of the Spill over theory, the study investigated the influence of work-life balance (WLB) on employee job commitment using JS as the mediating variable. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design elicited the desired data from 344 employees in 4 Universities and 4 multinational companies. Path diagram analysis served as the data analysis technique. Results/discussion: The results show that all the family and religious lives have statistically significant negative influences on employee commitment (EMPC) while leisure and health have statistically significant positive influences on EMPC. The study thus, makes theoretical contributions.

Feeling Supported as a Remote Worker: The Role of Support from Leaders and Colleagues and Job Satisfaction in Promoting Employees' Work-Life Balance.

Due to the increasing use of remote work, understanding the dynamics of employee support and its implications for job satisfaction and work-life balance is crucial. Utilizing the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory as a theoretical framework, this research investigated how feeling supported by leaders and colleagues at work fosters work-life balance and job satisfaction among remote employees. The study involved 635 remote workers (females = 61%, mean age, 46.7, SD = 11) from various service-based industries and public administration in Italy. Results from the structural equation model showed a total mediating effect of job satisfaction in the link between colleague support and work-life balance (χ2(22) = 68.923, p = 0.00, CFI = 0.973, TLI = 0.955, RMSEA = 0.059 (90% CI = 0.044-0.075, p = 0.158), SRMR = 0.030), emphasizing the role of interpersonal relationships within the workplace in enhancing remote workers' job satisfaction and, consequently, their work-life balance. Contrary to expectations, the study found no significant direct or indirect link between leader support and work-life balance. This research highlights the significance of fostering strong social connections and ensuring employee satisfaction to promote well-being and work-life balance in remote work arrangements.

Current status of the surgical training system in Japan: results of a nationwide questionnaire survey of graduating surgical trainees.

PURPOSE: To identify the problems trainees face during surgical training in Japan. METHODS: A nationwide online questionnaire survey was conducted targeting newly certified surgical trainees. RESULTS: The response rate was 53.8% (758/1410). Among those respondents, 25.6% were women, 71.4% were either married or had a partner, 41.3% had children, 72.7% had performed over 200 surgeries under general anesthesia, and 54.1% had chosen, before graduating from medical school, to become a surgeon. While 88.8% were interested in learning surgical techniques, 63.8% were hesitant to become a surgeon for fear of a compromised quality of private life (QOL). Conversely, only 1.4% chose their surgical training programs based on QOL. Overall, 84.6% of the trainees were satisfied with their training and this correlated with the number of surgeries performed. Only 29.9% received non-technical skill training. The average number of night shifts per month was 5.6, and 10.6% worked over 80 h per week. Harassment was reported by 41.5% of the respondents. Moreover, 33.0% had considered dropping out at some time, primarily because of their QOL (51.1%) or the harassment they had encountered (50.4%). CONCLUSION: This survey revealed that while trainees were satisfied with the overall training system, issues such as long working hours and harassment are prevalent. Working to improve these issues could make surgery more attractive for young trainees.

Hobbies, Distractions, Obsessions, and Addictions.

A career in cardiothoracic surgery takes a psychological and emotional toll, which is likely increased by recent changes in our health care environment. The benefits of leisure pursuits are severalfold, one of which includes supporting physician wellness. However, we are at risk of relying on unhealthy mechanisms to provide relief. The incidence of addiction and substance abuse is high, particularly among women surgeons. There are a variety of opportunities to help ourselves and support our colleagues. We need to promote healthy activities outside of our profession for the long-term well-being of cardiothoracic surgeons and our specialty.

Exploring the global landscape of work-life balance research: A bibliometric and thematic analysis.

The research on work-life balance (WLB) published in journals with a Scopus index between 2011 and 2022 is carefully examined in this work. Our research attempts to clarify the evolution and trends in WLB research and the importance of publications that Scopus indexes. After analyzing 2717 research articles, we found that WLB publications have a significant annual growth rate of 14.71 %, which suggests that the trend continues to grow. Significant changes are seen, with 1888 papers produced between 2017 and 2022 highlighting a notable increase in interest in the field. With 1608 papers, social sciences account for the majority of WLB research. With 54 publications, Griffith University (Australia) is the most affiliated institution. With 30 papers, the "Economic and Social Research Council of the United Kingdom" became the primary source of financing. The most prolific author, with nine publications, is Lingard H. At the same time, co-citation analysis reveals 168 co-cited authors. The United States (USA), the United Kingdom (U.K.), and Australia (A.U.) are the top three producing nations. A thematic analysis reveals ten major WLB themes, from work stress to difficulties with human resource management. This study provides crucial insights for policymakers and leaders to address work-life balance issues effectively. Using tools like Gephi or CiteSpace, we could deepen our understanding through advanced analysis methods such as page rank and network visualization.

The Mediating Effect of Well-Being, Happiness, and Trust in the Relationship Between Work-Life Balance and Work Effectiveness in Seafarers.

In the contemporary global context, seafarers persist as the uncelebrated heroes of international trade, despite their substantial contributions. The current estimate places the number of STCW- certified officers at 857 540, reflecting a notable increase of 10.8% since 2015. Nevertheless, there is a growing recognition of the imperative to accord specific attention to seafarers' mental and physical well-being. During their tenures aboard ships, seafarers confront various challenges, including psychological well-being, work-life imbalance, dissatisfaction, diminished performance, and a sense of mistrust toward the organizational framework. The primary objective of this research is to scrutinize the nexus between work-life balance and work effectiveness, exploring the mediating roles of psychological well-being, organizational happiness, and organizational trust. A questionnaire-based survey is meticulously crafted to achieve this, employing a dataset comprising 420 seafarers engaged in diverse vessel types in Turkey, operating under both Turkish and international flags. Methodologically, structural equation modeling and correlation analyses are executed to assess the formulated research hypotheses rigorously. The empirical findings of this research reveal noteworthy mediating roles: psychological well-being exhibits a complete mediation effect, organizational happiness demonstrates a full mediation effect, and organizational trust manifests a partial mediation effect. These outcomes underscore the nuanced interplay between work-life balance and work effectiveness in the seafaring context. The implications of these findings extend significantly to the maritime sector and industry, accentuating the imperative for targeted interventions to enhance the well-being and performance of seafaring professionals.

Cancer Prevention Among Firefighters: Examining Lifestyle, Screening Behavior, and Beliefs.

BACKGROUND: Firefighters are at increased risk of developing cancer due to occupational exposures, but they may also face increased risk due to their lifestyle, such as the quality of their diet and physical activity. Cancer beliefs and screening behavior could also influence their cancer risk. The current study aimed to identify individual differences associated with lifestyle behaviors, cancer screening, and cancer beliefs among firefighters; to describe the strategies firefighters use to adapt to their work schedule; and to describe topics firefighters believe are the most important to address in their workplace. METHODS: Career firefighters (N = 171) in a medium-sized U.S. city completed an online survey. FINDINGS: Logistic regression analyses identified age, education, racial identity, years of fire service, perceived stress, and rank as predictors of responses to items addressing cancer screening, lifestyle behaviors, and cancer beliefs. Although results varied, age, education, and racial identity were associated with most of the outcomes. Strategies related to sleep such as getting the right amount and napping, exercise, and getting family/roommate support were selected as the top adaptive strategies for work. Sleep, mental health/well-being, and work-life balance were selected most often as the most important topics to address in the fire service, with topics related to reducing occupational exposures receiving less attention. CONCLUSIONS/APPLICATION TO PRACTICE: The findings suggest individual differences, such as age, education, and racial identity, should be considered when developing occupational health interventions for firefighters. Interventions related to mental health, work-life balance, and sleep may be desired most by those in the fire service.

Perceived organizational support and its impact on employee's intention to stay: Dataset from the electronics industry in Vietnam.

This dataset investigates the complex interactions between perceived organizational support (POS) and Employee's intention to stay (ITS) in Vietnam's electronics industry, emphasizing the subtleties of job satisfaction (JS) and work-life balance (WLB) against a backdrop of socialist economic principles. The analysis is underpinned by a structured questionnaire distributed among employees across various corporations, including prominent entities like Samsung, Foxconn, and Luxshare, in Vietnam's northern industrial zones. A total of 604 legitimate responses were amassed via a convenience sampling strategy. After meticulous collation and organization, the dataset was subjected to Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to elucidate the symbiotic relationships among POS, JS, WLB, and ITS. The outcomes obtained from this dataset show the relationship between POS, JS and WLB had a positive and significant impact on ITS. This dataset can offer valuable insights to countries with similar characteristics to Vietnam.

Burnout and Satisfaction with Work-Life Balance among General Practitioners in Bulgaria during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The objective of the present study is to analyze the link between the degree of professional burnout among general practitioners in Bulgaria during a pandemic and their satisfaction with the balance between their personal lives and professional lives. A cross-sectional study was conducted during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic from December 2021 to January 2022 among 377 general practitioners. We identified the presence and level of burnout syndrome among GPs using V. Boyko's method for diagnostics of the severity of symptoms and the phases of formation and completion of the 'occupational burnout' process. Descriptive statistics and parametric and non-parametric tests were used for the analysis. For the significance level of the null hypothesis, we assumed that p < 0.05 at a 95% confidence interval. A total of 96.3% of the GPs had a high level of burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic. They worked more than 8 h a day (74.8%) and more than 5 days a week (69.0%). A total of 86.3% of them were not satisfied with the spare time they had and stated that they could not balance their work and personal lives (67.1%) since the pandemic was announced. A link was found between the level of professional burnout and long working hours (p = 0.022), dissatisfaction with free time (p = 0.028), and the inability to balance work and personal life (p = 0.000), as well as concerns related to safety during the pandemic (p = 0.048). Unrealistically high levels of burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic due to a disturbed work-life balance is a reason to re-evaluate health policies and involve more hospital care doctors at the frontlines to fight against severe infectious diseases. The results of this study could be used to inform policy makers, healthcare managers, and other stakeholders about the factors that have had profound impacts on GPs' stress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before and during COVID-19: the roles of transformational leadership, organizational culture and work-life balance in healthcare.

PURPOSE: This research aims to investigate the role of transformational leadership and organizational culture - encompassing Clan, Adhocracy, Hierarchical and Market Cultures - in the context of work-life balance for healthcare workers. It aims to present a comparison of observations made pre and mid-pandemic. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: A structured questionnaire was utilized to collect data from a varied sample of 355 employees (258 before and 97 during the pandemic) representing multiple sectors and positions within a hospital. The interpretation of the data was accomplished using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). FINDINGS: Findings reveal that prior to the pandemic, transformational leadership significantly influenced all forms of organizational culture perceptions, with a strong influence on Clan Culture. Clan Culture displayed a consistent positive correlation with WLB both before and during the pandemic. During the pandemic, Market Culture exhibited a negative effect on WLB and Adhocracy Culture demonstrated a positive effect, impacts which were absent before the pandemic. Transformational leadership had a positive impact on WLB before the pandemic, but no discernible effect during the pandemic was observed. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The results indicate that the dynamics between transformational leadership, organizational culture and work-life balance are susceptible to alterations in the face of external crisis events. This study offers a unique exploration of these dynamics in the healthcare sector during the ongoing global pandemic.

[Controversies in promoting young talent in orthopedics and trauma surgery]. / Kontroversen in der Nachwuchsförderung in der Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie.

BACKGROUND: The field of orthopedics and trauma surgery is facing a serious shortage of new talent due to the increasing average age of active surgeons and a growing need for staff. The appeal of these specialties is declining among medical students. SOLUTIONS: This trend could be reversed by introducing practice-oriented curricula, mentoring programs, and early integration into professional societies. The quality of surgical education, especially bedside teaching, needs to be improved, as it is often compromised by a lack of time and insufficient pedagogical training of the educators. The practical year (PY) is crucial to attract students to these specialties, but data indicate that the quality of training in orthopedics and trauma surgery is inferior compared to other fields. Professional societies could enhance junior development through targeted programs. Moreover, the problem of recruitment is compounded by imbalanced gender ratios and working conditions that do not align with modern family models or efficient surgical training. There needs to be a rethinking of work scheduling and task distribution in surgery to make the profession more attractive and to ensure the quality of training.

Returning to work after maternity leave: a systematic literature review.

PURPOSE: Working women often experience difficulties associated with balancing family and career, particularly if they choose to have children. This systematic literature review aimed at investigating women's experience in returning to work after maternity leave. METHODS: The review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The literature search led to the identification of 52 articles, which underwent data extraction and qualitative analysis. RESULTS: Results were organized in 5 categories: (1) Work-life balance; (2) Women's mental and physical health; (3) Job-related wellbeing and working experience; (4) Breastfeeding. Women's both mental and physical health seem connected to a longer maternity leave and a greater coworkers' and supervisors' support. Returning to work seems to constitute one of the most important barriers for exclusive breastfeeding or breastfeeding continuation. A shorter duration of maternity leave, a higher workload and the lack of occupational policies supporting breastfeeding seem to be hindering factors. Partner and family support, and the opportunity for fathers to work under a flextime system after childbirth seem to increase both breastfeeding initiation and duration. Women who continue breastfeeding after returning to work seem to experience more family-to-work conflict and overload. CONCLUSIONS: This paper show that there are still many understudied aspects in exploring women's experience of returning to work after maternity leave. This represents an important gap in the literature, since returning to work represents a particularly critical time in women's personal and occupational life, in which challenges and barriers may arise, potentially affecting their experience in the immediate future and years to come.

A Cross-Sectional Study to Evaluate Work-Life Balance Among Indian Medical Students.

Introduction The concept of work-life balance is a complex, multidimensional intertwinement of the roles an individual plays in their professional and personal life. Work-life balance is crucial for every profession, and doctors have no exemption not exempted from it. Medical students and young graduates face numerous challenges that potentially impact their work (study)-life balance. Objectives of the study The aim is to assess the hours spent in study and the hours spent in non-study activities by medical students and graduates in India and to assess the study-life balance among them. Methodology A cross-sectional observational study employing a predefined web-based survey to investigate the study-life balance among medical students and graduates across India. A predesigned questionnaire was designed and made accessible through Google Forms, which was distributed among doctors across India via popular social media platforms. Data management was conducted using Microsoft Excel and Data analysis was done using SPSS (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Results A total of 416 responses were included in the study. The study participants were predominantly female (64.2%). Most of the study participants were from the State of Telangana (63.9%). The time spent studying was < 10 hours/week for 43.8% students and 10-25 hours/week for 27.2% students. Around 24% students reported spending 10-25 hours/week in hospital. While 47.4% reported spending less than one to two hours per day with their family, 26% of the participants answered "yes" to the question "Do you feel that your study-life is stressful?." Conclusions Self-care and study-life balance is a multi-factorial focal area that is based on balancing stress and happiness, with completing the tasks of the medical school. Medical students need to receive proper guidelines to transition into medical school for better study-life balance.

A new perspective on balancing life domains: work-nonwork balance crafting.

BACKGROUND: Self-initiated and proactive changes in working conditions through crafting are essential for shaping work and improving work-related well-being. Recently, the research stream of job crafting has been extended to other life domains. The present paper aims to study a novel crafting concept-work-nonwork balance crafting-investigating the role of its antecedents and identifying relevant outcomes. Work-nonwork balance crafting is defined as individuals' unofficial techniques and activities to shape their work-nonwork balance, here considering their life domain boundary preferences. METHODS: In the study, 1,060 employees in three European countries (Austria, Germany and Switzerland) were surveyed in a longitudinal three-wave study with three-month intervals. We explored the influences of job/home demands and resources as antecedents of work-nonwork balance crafting. Important constructs for employee health and well-being (i.e., work engagement, work-related burnout, mental well-being and detachment from work) were investigated as outcomes. RESULTS: The findings suggest that resources and demands in the context of work or home are key antecedents of work-nonwork balance crafting. Work-nonwork balance crafting was also predictive for important employee health and well-being outcomes over three months, mainly in a positive and health-promoting way. CONCLUSION: This study provides insights into the antecedents of proactive efforts to balance the complex interplay of life domains. By studying work-nonwork balance crafting, we provide a new perspective on crafting beyond job crafting, which may help maintain or improve employees' mental health and well-being.

Influence of Personal and Work Environments on Work-Life Balance Among Emergency Medical Technicians.

Introduction Work-life balance (WLB) is a critical concern for emergency medical technicians (EMTs) because it significantly affects the provision of comprehensive emergency medical services (EMS). This study investigated personal and work-related factors influencing work-to-family negative spillover (WFNS), a key element of WLB, among EMTs. Methods A web-based survey was conducted from July 26 to September 13, 2021, among EMTs in Hokkaido, Japan. The study included 21 facilities that were randomly selected from 42 fire stations. The Japanese version of the Survey Work-Home Interaction-NijmeGen (SWING-J) was used to measure WFNS. Personal background factors, such as age, sex, years of work experience, and education, were surveyed. We also evaluated work environment factors, such as weekly working hours, monthly night shifts, monthly overtime hours, and yearly paid vacation days. Unpaired Student's t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and multilevel generalized linear model (MGLM) analyses were used to explore the relationships between WFNS and personal and work-related factors. Results A total of 912 respondents were included in our analysis. They were predominantly male (98.2%), with an average EMT work experience of 12.7 years and a mean WFNS score of 1.16 (standard deviation (SD) = 1.67). MGLM analysis, adjusting for covariates, identified years of work experience (ß = -0.129, p = 0.001), monthly overtime hours (ß = 0.184, p < 0.001), and yearly paid vacation days (ß = -0.170, p < 0.001) as independent factors associated with WFNS. Conclusion This study suggested that adjusting WFNS among EMTs could be achieved by reducing overtime hours and fostering an organized approach to paid leave within the work environment.

'You make the call': Improving radiology staff scheduling with AI-generated self-rostering in a medical imaging department.

INTRODUCTION: New Zealand's shortage of medical imaging technicians has intensified due to factors like illness, the pandemic, and an ageing workforce. Addressing staff retention issues requires attention to intrinsic factors like workplace satisfaction and work-life balance. Self-rostering has proven effective in healthcare by enhancing work-life balance, job satisfaction, and retention, but it has not been implemented widely in radiology. This study aimed to explore the perceptions, benefits, and challenges of implementing AI-generated self-rostering in a radiology department through simulated trials. METHODS: This study simulated an AI-generated roster in a regional New Zealand radiology department, engaging 23 staff members. A mixed-methods approach included surveys and discussion groups. Community-based participatory action methodology guided discussion groups and informed modifications. RESULTS: The AI-generated self-rostering method demonstrated success by meeting a high percentage of shift preferences while fulfilling service demands. Participants perceived potential benefits in work-life balance and autonomy, though uncertainties persisted regarding implementation and fairness. Despite staff reservations, we found that an AI-generated self-rostering system may be fairer than manual self-rostering, while saving radiology staff time and cost. CONCLUSION: AI-generated self-rostering offers an innovative solution to an old problem. This self-rostering system provides a fair way for staff to have a say in the shifts they do, which increases feelings of work-life balance and autonomy. In this simulation, AI-generated self-rostering was well received, and most staff were receptive to moving to pilot the programme. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Self-rostering could be a potential solution to staff retention issues in radiology; we recommend a pilot study is implemented. When switching to self-rostering, departments should consider implementing one-on-one support systems to assist staff with entering preferences. Education is essential to encourage staff understanding and cooperation.