The Relationship Between Job Characteristics and Work-Family Conflict Among Married Women Employed in Clinical Wards of Shiraz University-Affiliated Hospitals

Background: Work and life have the greatest and strongest bond with an individual and the society. Their balance has a high value. If the relationship between work and life is not managed, the conflict between these two will result in irreparable damage to individuals, organizations and communities. Objectives: The main objective of the current study is to investigate the relationship between job characteristics and work-family conflict among married women employed in clinical wards of Shiraz University-affiliated hospitals. Patients and Methods: The study population included 180 married women who work in clinical wards of four university-affiliated hospitals in Shiraz. We used the improved Leiden Quality of Work Life Questionnaire by Van der Doef and colleagues and the work-family conflict questionnaire by Kelloway and colleagues to measure participants' responses. One-way ANOVA and Pearson linear correlation coefficient were used for data analyses. Results: There was a negative relation between job characteristics and work-family conflict. Respondents experienced higher levels of work-to-family conflict than family-to-work conflict. There were significant negative relations between skill variety, task autonomy, task significance, job security, social support of colleagues and supervisors with work-family conflict and positive significant relations between time, work pressure and hazardous exposure with work-family conflict. Conclusions: work-family conflict of employed women could be reduced by rearranging job characteristics and conditions. Job resources such as social support should be strengthened and job demands should be adjusted commensurate with the physical and mental capabilities of staff.