Psychosocial strain and coping of Finnish working mothers during the COVID-19 lockdown: a job demand-control approach

IntroductionIn March 2020 many countries around the world, including Finland, implemented lockdown measures to mitigate the unprecedented impacts of the coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) on public health. As a result, school and daycare settings closed indefinitely and working from home beca...

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Main Authors: Venla Panula, Nelli Lyyra, Angeliki Kallitsoglou, Emmanuel Acquah, Pamela-Zoe Topalli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2024-03-01
Series:Frontiers in Public Health
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1304319/full
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author Venla Panula
Nelli Lyyra
Angeliki Kallitsoglou
Emmanuel Acquah
Pamela-Zoe Topalli
author_facet Venla Panula
Nelli Lyyra
Angeliki Kallitsoglou
Emmanuel Acquah
Pamela-Zoe Topalli
author_sort Venla Panula
collection DOAJ
description IntroductionIn March 2020 many countries around the world, including Finland, implemented lockdown measures to mitigate the unprecedented impacts of the coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) on public health. As a result, school and daycare settings closed indefinitely and working from home became the new normal for a big part of the workforce, which came with increased homeschooling and childcare responsibility for mothers.MethodsIn this article we present the findings from maternal responses to open ended questions on psychosocial well-being, and experiences of combining work, family life and homeschooling during the COVID-19 national lockdown in Finland in March–May 2020. Working mothers’ responses (n = 72) were analyzed through the lens of Karasek’s job demand-control model, focusing on how the mothers experienced the demands of their life during the lockdown, and how they saw their possibilities to control the situation.ResultsThe findings indicated important variation in the level of experienced demand and control and associated compensatory factors during the COVID-19 lockdown across different subgroups of working mothers.DiscussionThe findings have implications for understanding strain and plausible supports among working mothers during the COVID-19 lockdown as well as in the face of acute adversity including the next possible public health crisis.
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spelling doaj.art-f2a1ab04c77c4ff6ae18521b8daaad502024-03-07T16:43:56ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652024-03-011210.3389/fpubh.2024.13043191304319Psychosocial strain and coping of Finnish working mothers during the COVID-19 lockdown: a job demand-control approachVenla Panula0Nelli Lyyra1Angeliki Kallitsoglou2Emmanuel Acquah3Pamela-Zoe Topalli4Department of Teacher Education, Faculty of Education, University of Turku, Turku, FinlandHealth Promotion and Health Education, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, FinlandSchool of Education, University of Exeter, Exeter, United KingdomFaculty of Education and Welfare Studies, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, FinlandDepartment of Teacher Education, Faculty of Education, University of Turku, Turku, FinlandIntroductionIn March 2020 many countries around the world, including Finland, implemented lockdown measures to mitigate the unprecedented impacts of the coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) on public health. As a result, school and daycare settings closed indefinitely and working from home became the new normal for a big part of the workforce, which came with increased homeschooling and childcare responsibility for mothers.MethodsIn this article we present the findings from maternal responses to open ended questions on psychosocial well-being, and experiences of combining work, family life and homeschooling during the COVID-19 national lockdown in Finland in March–May 2020. Working mothers’ responses (n = 72) were analyzed through the lens of Karasek’s job demand-control model, focusing on how the mothers experienced the demands of their life during the lockdown, and how they saw their possibilities to control the situation.ResultsThe findings indicated important variation in the level of experienced demand and control and associated compensatory factors during the COVID-19 lockdown across different subgroups of working mothers.DiscussionThe findings have implications for understanding strain and plausible supports among working mothers during the COVID-19 lockdown as well as in the face of acute adversity including the next possible public health crisis.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1304319/fullCOVID-19mothersjob demand-control modelhomeschoolworkstress
spellingShingle Venla Panula
Nelli Lyyra
Angeliki Kallitsoglou
Emmanuel Acquah
Pamela-Zoe Topalli
Psychosocial strain and coping of Finnish working mothers during the COVID-19 lockdown: a job demand-control approach
Frontiers in Public Health
COVID-19
mothers
job demand-control model
homeschool
work
stress
title Psychosocial strain and coping of Finnish working mothers during the COVID-19 lockdown: a job demand-control approach
title_full Psychosocial strain and coping of Finnish working mothers during the COVID-19 lockdown: a job demand-control approach
title_fullStr Psychosocial strain and coping of Finnish working mothers during the COVID-19 lockdown: a job demand-control approach
title_full_unstemmed Psychosocial strain and coping of Finnish working mothers during the COVID-19 lockdown: a job demand-control approach
title_short Psychosocial strain and coping of Finnish working mothers during the COVID-19 lockdown: a job demand-control approach
title_sort psychosocial strain and coping of finnish working mothers during the covid 19 lockdown a job demand control approach
topic COVID-19
mothers
job demand-control model
homeschool
work
stress
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1304319/full
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