V. Walters et al., THE EFFECTS OF PAID AND UNPAID WORK ON NURSES WELL-BEING - THE IMPORTANCE OF GENDER, Sociology of health & illness, 19(3), 1997, pp. 328-347
A handful of studies have started to explore the effects on health of
both paid and unpaid work among women and men. This paper reports on a
survey of a proportional random sample of 2285 women and men nurses f
rom three regions of Ontario. We examine the effects of paid and unpai
d work on their well-being. The data were analysed for the full sample
and then multiple regression analyses were run separately for men and
women. In our discussion we emphasise several points: unless such dat
a are analysed in terms of gender, as well as controlling for sex, mar
ked differences between the experiences of men and women may be neglec
ted; that in understanding health, it is important to take into accoun
t the influence of both paid and unpaid work; and that certain feature
s of paid and unpaid work are often associated with well-being - contr
ol over work, the degree of challenge that work presents, recognition,
satisfaction with work, social support, number of children and the le
vel of overall stress experienced. Workload issues are also associated
with women's well-being.