Integrating Multiple Roles: Narratives Of Doctoral Student, Motherhood, And Work Life

Abstract

This study explored the work and life integration of doctoral students who were also mothers and specialist faculty at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. School, work, and family were entities that each required high levels of engagement (Markle, 2015). When these roles were added together, women faced tremendous challenges. However, participants in this study demonstrated incredible strength, courage, and resiliency in their ability to not only survive, but thrive in their roles. From relying on their strong sense of values to interweaving their roles, each utilized various strategies to achieve success in their roles and recognized the positive aspects of their situations. The purpose of this study was to explore how women integrated their multiple roles of being a doctoral student, mother, and specialist faculty. Three goals of the study were to:-Understand the challenges and stresses that women face when striving to integrate school, family, and work; -Explore the strategies that women engaged in to fulfill the responsibilities in each role; and -Explore the successes and strengths of women as they endeavored to integrate school, family, and work. This qualitative study used narrative inquiry to explore the complexity and dynamics of participant’s experiences. The theoretical lens used to analyze data included Goode’s (1960) role strain theory, Sieber’s (1974) role accumulation theory, and feminist theory. Keywords: work-life integration, doctoral student, mother, specialist faculty, challenges, strategies, positive aspects