Mothers in academia and their unique needs: Navigating multiple roles while maintaining personal wellbeing

Date

9/14/2021

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Abstract

The challenges women in academia who also identify as mothers, are robust in their presentation and overall outcomes (Williams, 2015). These challenges include the limited ability for these women to integrate their emotional, intellectual, and physical selves within their professional and personal lives (Moustafa, 2020). In addition to navigating multiple roles, these academics face gender bias, unequal pay, and a lack of transparency surrounding university policies (Little & Tingstrom, 2004). Trainers in psychology take on the responsibility of developing psychologists in the areas of assessment, behavior and counseling through techniques that promote a biopsychosocial model (Boccio, 2016). Women who are mothers and trainers of psychology offer a unique perspective to this pedagogy as they are distinctive from their male counterparts. The investigation of women who are mothers and trainers of psychology and their perception of their levels of depression, anxiety, and stress was warranted to assist in determining the type of interaction, either positive or negative, they have on their overall wellbeing. The information gathered further provided the lived experience these women describe to better explain how this group of women view their wellbeing and the impact it has on the navigation of these multiple roles. In addition to their perception of their overall wellbeing, this research provided information adding to current literature on the shortage of female psychology trainers at the university level.

Description

Keywords

Wellbeing, Motherhood, Women, Academia, School psychology, Clinical psychology, Depression, Anxiety, Stress

Citation