When professional nurses return to school: A study of role conflict and well-being in multiple-role women

Abstract

The effect of multiple roles on professional nurses who return to a formal program of education was examined, as was sex-role concept, to assess how they effect perceptions of role conflict and level of well-being. Four research questions were developed to study these presumed relationships and were tested primarily with nonparametric statistics because of the small sample size and the categorical nature of the data. One hundred fifty-five female students were asked to complete a biographical data sheet, the Bem Inventory, and the CES-D scale. The results show that for professional nurses who return to school, the occupancy of multiple roles does not increase perceived role conflict; in fact, nurses with more roles experience greater well-being than nurses with fewer roles. The role of parent, more than any other role, is a major source of conflict. Increased social supports for the returning student result in less perceived role conflict. A feminine sex-role identity does not increase perceived role conflict, yet these women show a level of psychological well-being that is significantly lower than that of women with a masculine sex-role identity.