Well-being of working parents with chronically ill children: A literature study on family interaction and work resources

Abstract

Child’s health has hardly received attention within the literature investigating work-family interference. This theoretical oriented thesis focuses on how chronically ill, including asthma, interact with family’s emotional climate, contribute to parents’ well-being and interference with parents’ work. Family resources contribute to coping, while work resources can provide more time which is essential as childcare demands restrict parent’s time recovery. The parent depends on roles defined within work and family, and performing multiple roles can lead to postive and negative outcomes The discussion focuses on parents’ utilization of family friendly benefits, with promoting and restrictive factors from both family and organization. Certain gender related tendency operates behind utilization of family-friendly benefits, and companies contribute to this tendency. This implies that most likely mothers utilize those benefits, also as a means to reduce their need for recovery. Due to traditional role view within the family and the influence of organizational culture on role demands, employed fathers are resistant to family-work interference and have reduced need to utilize those benefits. Parents working in higher as well as lower positions are restricted to utilize those benefits, but due to different inputs. Precautions are given with generalization of the results based on samples and family friendly situation in the US. The conceptual framework was revised in accordance with the focus in the discussion.