Double- and Triple-Duty Caregiving Men: An Examination of Subjective Stress and Perceived Schedule Control

Abstract

Based on the stress process model of family caregiving, this study examined subjective stress appraisals and perceived schedule control among men employed in the long-term care industry (workplace-only caregivers) who concurrently occupy 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). Survey responses from 123 men working in nursing home facilities in the U.S. were analyzed using multiple linear regression models. Results indicated that double- and triple-duty caregivers appraised primary stress similarly to workplace-only caregivers. However, several differences emerged with respect to secondary role strains, specifically work-family conflict, emotional exhaustion, and turnover intentions. Schedule control also constituted a stress buffer for double- and triple-duty caregivers, particularly among double-duty elder caregivers. These findings contribute to the scarce literature on double- and triple-duty caregiving men and provide practical implications for recruitment and retention strategies in the healthcare industry.

The Complexities of Family Caregiving at Work: A Mixed-Methods Study

“…The integrated data here emphasize that this is an important conceptual and clinical omission. Single studies of secondary stressors in caregiving, such as gender role conflict (Bai, Liu, Baladon, & Rubio-Valera, 2017), financial and family conflict (Butterworth, Pymont, Rodgers, Windsor, & Anstey, 2010), the reconciliation of work and family care responsibilities (Wang, Shyu, Chen, & Yang, 2011), and the implications of work-family conflict and schedule control among men and women employed in long-term care settings (DePasquale, Davis, et al, 2016;DePasquale, Zarit, et al, 2018) have emerged. However, the present study demonstrates that, when considering overall caregiver health and well-being, caregiving-work conflict appears to supersede burden as an important potential clinical target for services and supports.…”

Informal Care and Sleep Disturbance Among Caregivers in Paid Work: Longitudinal Analyses From a Large Community-Based Swedish Cohort Study

“…In terms of the stress process model, in which primary stressors generated by informal caregiving lead to problems in other domains, such as job-caregiving conflicts, 53 such role overload may be generated due to the difficulty of apportioning time and energy to two relatively inflexible activities. 54 In-work carers have partial control at best over the timing of caregiving and paid work activities, leading to scheduling difficulties (e.g., providing care at unpredictable times, at night, and during the working week), and the difficulty of catching up on sleep during the day due to the fixed timing of most jobs. Informal caregiving, unlike other unremunerated activities, is often performed out of a sense of moral obligation, particularly when the care recipient is a close family member, leaving some caregivers with little or no choice about engaging in caregiving.…”

The Constant Caregiver: Work–family Spillover among Men and Women in Nursing

“…Recent research on carework conceptualizes people who simultaneously perform carework professionally and personally as double-duty caregivers. DePasquale et al (2018: 466) explain that double-duty caregivers ‘are professional caregivers who informally care for children (double-duty child caregiving) or older adults (double-duty elder caregiving)’. While these concepts build on literature addressing the influence of providing carework on experiences of work–family spillover (DePasquale et al, 2018), double-duty caregiving remains understudied among women and men in the same emotionally demanding occupation.…”

“…DePasquale et al (2018: 466) explain that double-duty caregivers ‘are professional caregivers who informally care for children (double-duty child caregiving) or older adults (double-duty elder caregiving)’. While these concepts build on literature addressing the influence of providing carework on experiences of work–family spillover (DePasquale et al, 2018), double-duty caregiving remains understudied among women and men in the same emotionally demanding occupation. Using ‘spillover’ as a sensitizing concept and drawing on the rich, qualitative reflections of diverse nurses, we develop a new conceptualization of spillover to include (1) the anticipatory spillover experiences of younger nurses – that is, the anticipation of future conflict between work and family, and (2) the gendered spillover of emotional capital .…”