The Family Time Squeeze: Perceived Family Time Adequacy Buffers Work Strain in Certified Nursing Assistants With Multiple Caregiving Roles.

Abstract

This study examined how certified nursing assistants (CNAs) with unpaid family caregiving roles for children ("double-duty-child caregivers"), older adults ("double-duty-elder caregivers"), and both children and older adults ("triple-duty caregivers") differed from their nonfamily caregiving counterparts ("workplace-only caregivers") on four work strain indicators (emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and work climate for family sacrifices). The moderating effects of perceived family time adequacy were also evaluated. Regression analyses were conducted on survey data from 972 CNAs working in U.S.-based nursing homes. Compared with workplace-only caregivers, double-and-triple-duty caregivers reported more emotional exhaustion and pressure to make family sacrifices for the sake of work. Triple-duty caregivers also reported less job satisfaction. Perceived family time adequacy buffered double-duty-child and triple-duty caregivers' emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions, as well as reversed triple-duty caregivers' negative perceptions of the work climate. Perceived family time adequacy constitutes a salient psychological resource for double-duty-child and triple-duty caregivers' family time squeezes. Amid an unprecedented demand for long-term care and severe direct-care workforce shortages, future research on workplace factors that increase double-and-triple-duty caregiving CNAs' perceived family time adequacy is warranted to inform long-term care organizations' development of targeted recruitment, retention, and engagement strategies.