1. Measuring the Psychosocial Quality of Women’s Family Work: Initial Findings Tamara Colton 1 BA (Hons), Laurie Hellsten 1 PhD & Bonnie Janzen 2 PhD 1 Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education 2 Department of Community Health and Epidemiology University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, SK

2. Outline Background Research program The present study Method Conclusion

3. Background A dominant focus of social epidemiological research on women’s well-being has been on the potential health consequences of combining work and family roles. Early studies examining the relationship between women’s health and multiple social roles focused on role occupancy.

4. Inconsistent results have led to the search for different explanations in order to clarify the relationship between women’s roles and health.  There is more of a focus on quality of roles than occupancy  Economic and social conditions in which roles are enacted Background

5. There has been a shift in research from the quantity to the quality of social roles occupied which has been most evident in the domain of paid work.  e.g. Robert Karasek’s job strain model Although the early focus of research was on the relationship between health and work on men however, the qualities and characteristics of paid work which impact women’s health has increased greatly over the last two decades. Background

6. In contrast to paid work, relatively little is known about the characteristics and quality of unpaid family work which may influence well-being. This is an important gap in the research literature, given the thousands of hours that Canadians in general and women in particular will spend in housework and childcare over a life time. Background

7. The lack of research attention is likely the result of numerous interacting factors including,  view of unpaid family work as “women’s work” and therefore unimportant.  conceptual and measurement difficulties in attempting to accurately characterize such a complex role. Background

8. This lack of research has led to one consequence the absence of family work quality that includes: 1) incorporates important family work constructs identified in the literature as potentially impacting women’s health; and 2) meets the minimum standard psychometric requirements for validity and reliability. Background

9. Our Research Program Objective: to systematically develop (and collect validity evidence for) a multidimensional measure of family work quality for women.

10. Overall Plan Study 1: Pilot test (using an existing data source) Study 2: Identify additional/revised key domains of family work quality and develop set of questionnaire items to reflect those domains. Study 3: Preliminary assessment of how good the domains and items are. Study 4: Assessment of how good the domains and items are by surveying large numbers of women and using more advanced statistics.

11. Today’s Presentation Focus is on the results of the pilot test (study 1).

12. Method Based on data that was gathered in a cross- sectional telephone survey of employed parents in Saskatoon during the winter of 2004/2005. This analysis is based on 674 employed women, with at least one child under 20 years in the household.

13. As part of this telephone survey, participants were asked questions about the quality of their family work. The questions on family work were formed from Robert Karasek’s job strain model. They consisted of items from Karasek’s Job Content Questionnaire modified to reflect family work and items used in previous research. Method

14. I would like you to now consider the time you spend at home. For each statement that I read please respond with the options strongly disagree, disagree, agree or strongly agree. ItemSource I spend a lot of time doing repetitive household / childcare-related tasks. Adapted from Karasek’s Job Content Questionnaire (Karasek et al. 1998) I have enough time to get everything done.Adapted from Karasek’s Job Content Questionnaire (Karasek et al. 1998) My household or child-care related activities give me a chance to develop and to learn new things. Ross & Bird (1994) My household related activities usually involve doing a number of different kinds of things. Bird & Ross (1993) I do creative things around the house.Baruch et al. (1983) I am expected to do too much.Adapted from Karasek’s Job Content Questionnaire (Karasek et al. 1998) Method 1 2 3 4 Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree

15. Analysis In addition to basic descriptive statistics, an exploratory factor analysis was performed Factor analysis is a statistical technique that gathers a group of items into underlying domains

16. Results NumberPercentage Age 25-2914822.0 30-4027440.7 41-5025237.4 Marital Status Married/common-law43865.0 Separated/divorced/widowed15623.1 Single/never married8011.9 Educational Attainment High school or less22032.7 Some post-secondary19629.1 College Graduate12618.7 University Graduate13219.6

17. Results of the factor analysis indicated a 3- factor solution:  Psychological Demands (k=8)  Skill Discretion (k=4)  Decision Authority (k=4) Results

18. Psychological DemandsSkill DiscretionDecision Authority I spend a lot of time doing repetitive household/childcare related tasks My household/child-care related activities give me a chance to develop and learn new things I am expected to do too much I have enough time to get everything done My household related activities usually involve doing a number of different kinds of things At home, I am free to make my own schedule The demands my family takes from me often causes conflictI do creative things around the houseI have little control over the family budget My household-related tasks are often interrupted before I can finish them My role as a parent requires me to be creative In general, I feel I have control over what happens in most situations at home I have to work very hard My life is hectic I spend a lot of time waiting for others I have to work very fast in order to get things done Results

19. Reliability Psychological Demands 0.716 Skill Discretion 0.697 Decision Authority 0.569 For good reliability, the Cronbach’s alpha should be at least 0.7

20. Conclusion Clarifying the relationship between psychosocial domestic conditions and women’s health requires reliable and valid measures. The results of this analysis, though promising, clearly suggest that further instrument development is required. That work is currently underway.

21. Acknowledgements Thanks to…  The women who have already participated in the study  The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Gender and Health Institute)