Role boundary management during Covid-19 pandemic: A qualitative analysis of focus group data with working-student mothers

Abstract

This qualitative study explores the experiences of role boundary management of working-student mothers during COVID-19 pandemic shelter in place order. A thematic analysis was used to examine the experiences and consequences of role blurring due to remote work, school closures, and remote learning and the strategies used to cope with the demands of three roles – being a mother, a worker, and a student. Eight participants enrolled in higher education programs participated in a focus group using Zoom technology. Several experiences of role blurring and barriers to satisfactorily manage all the roles emerged from the analysis. Strategies to cope with permanent demands seemed to have had only a small effect on working-student mothers' adjustment and well-being as they navigated through the days of shelter in place order. Implications for a better understanding of the experience and impacts of role boundary management during COVID-19 are discussed.