Abstract
Purpose- The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a study which aimed to describe the ways a group of deans of nursing integrated their professional and personal lives in their worlds. Methods- Oral histories were collected from a group of 30 deans from three countries – Canada, England and Australia. The data from the interviews were content analysed for themes related to the deans' personal and professional life experiences. Through contrast and comparison of these themes, the researchers wrote a description of how the deans integrated their personal and professional lives. Results- The major themes that emerged from the analysis were: work demands, dual career partnerships, children come first, obtaining educational qualifications, other professional activities, and out of work activities. Conclusion- The world of the dean of nursing working in a complex university structure is complex and often impacts on the rest of their lives. However, it is important to see that their personal lives and how they live them can revitalise and give them emotional strength for their professional life. The study has implications for deans who need to reflect on how they integrate the two lives in their worlds by identifying stress and taking advantage of developmental opportunities.
Highlights
There are challenges in keeping up with work and life, in a world where organisations maintain the assumed norm that workers work in a breadwinner-homemaker model [1]
The concept of work/life is usually coupled with balance in the literature [1], with implication that a dichotomy exists between work and family or work and personal life
It is implied that to achieve work/life balance there should be an equal distribution of work and life [4]
Summary
There are challenges in keeping up with work and life, in a world where organisations maintain the assumed norm that workers work in a breadwinner-homemaker model [1]. It is implied that to achieve work/life balance there should be an equal distribution of work and life [4] It is often stated in the literature that people are “ideal workers”: either full time blue collar workers in the working class or high level executives and professionals in the middle class context [5]. These “ideal workers” must subordinate all other elements of their life to the requirements of the job [1]. In the context of this paper, the terms professional (work role as a dean of nursing) and personal (not related to this work role) lives are used
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