Work-family conflict categories and support strategies for married female nurses: a latent profile analysis

Abstract

Objective: To clarify subgroups of married female nurses experiencing work-family conflict (WFC), explore the factors associated with the subgroups, and determine how desired support strategies differ among the subgroups.

Methods: Data was collected from a sample of 646 married female nurses from public hospitals in Zhejiang Province, China, in December 2021. Latent profile analysis was used to group the participants, and multiple logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with higher WFC. The STROBE criteria were used to report results.

Results: According to latent profile analysis, there were three distinct profiles of WFC among married female nurses: "low-conflict type," "work-dominant-conflict type," and "high-conflict type." These profiles differed in the number of children, night shifts, family economic burden, childcare during working hours, family harmony, colleague support, and nurse-patient relationships. Nurses with multiple children, higher pressures in childcare during working hours, heavier family economic burdens, lower family harmony, lower colleague support, and poorer nurse-patient relationships are more likely to be classified as "high-conflict type" nurses.

Conclusion: This study found that married female nurses experience different types of WFCs. The structure of these WFCs and their associated factors suggests that customized intervention strategies can be developed to address the specific needs of married female nurses.

Keywords: latent profile analysis; married female nurses; person-centered approach; work-family border; work-family conflict; work-life balance.

Figure 1

Characteristics of latent profile in work–family conflict of nurses. Latent class analysis divided the population into three groups: low-conflict type, work-dominant-conflict type, and high-conflict type. The line graph shows how high or low each group scored on the 10 items of the Work–Family Conflict and Family–Work Conflict Scales, representing each type of feature.