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Levels of complexity in patterns of daily occupations: relationship to women's well-being

Author

Summary, in English

The study builds on a previous study of the everyday occupations of 100 women who worked at home and in the paid workforce. Their pattern of daily occupations was depicted using time-occupation graphs inspired by the time geography method, whereby the women’s pattern of occupations were categorised and clustered according to complexity. For each woman, the level of complexity was operationalised as the frequency of shifting between three categories of occupation (main, hidden, and unexpected) and sleep, along with the frequency of unexpected occupations and whether shifts in type of occupation were concentrated in limited parts of the day, e.g., the mornings. The study had two aims. First, to test the hypothesis that among women who work at home and in the paid workforce, those with low-complex patterns of daily occupations would rate their health and well-being higher than women having medium-complex patterns. As well, those with medium-complex patterns would rate their health and well-being better than women with highcomplex patterns. Secondly, the study aimed to investigate differences among these subgroups in relation to sociodemographic factors. The hypothesis was partly confirmed. Increasing complexity was associated with lower levels of self-rated health, but not with lower levels of sense of coherence and well-being. With respect to sociodemographic factors, the women in the three subgroups differed in terms of level of education. The results tentatively confirm theoretical assumptions of a link between patterns of daily occupations and experiences of health, and provide an incentive for further research on this relationship.

Publishing year

2006

Language

English

Pages

27-36

Publication/Series

Journal of Occupational Science

Volume

13

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

School of Occupational Therapy

Topic

  • Sociology

Keywords

  • Daily occupations
  • Time geography
  • Dual workload
  • Health

Status

Published

Research group

  • Sustainable occupations and health in a life course perspective

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1442-7591