We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Returning to work after maternity leave: a systematic literature review.
- Authors
Franzoi, Isabella Giulia; Sauta, Maria Domenica; De Luca, Alessandra; Granieri, Antonella
- Abstract
Purpose: Working women often experience difficulties associated with balancing family and career, particularly if they choose to have children. This systematic literature review aimed at investigating women's experience in returning to work after maternity leave. Methods: The review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The literature search led to the identification of 52 articles, which underwent data extraction and qualitative analysis. Results: Results were organized in 5 categories: (1) Work-life balance; (2) Women's mental and physical health; (3) Job-related wellbeing and working experience; (4) Breastfeeding. Women's both mental and physical health seem connected to a longer maternity leave and a greater coworkers' and supervisors' support. Returning to work seems to constitute one of the most important barriers for exclusive breastfeeding or breastfeeding continuation. A shorter duration of maternity leave, a higher workload and the lack of occupational policies supporting breastfeeding seem to be hindering factors. Partner and family support, and the opportunity for fathers to work under a flextime system after childbirth seem to increase both breastfeeding initiation and duration. Women who continue breastfeeding after returning to work seem to experience more family-to-work conflict and overload. Conclusions: This paper show that there are still many understudied aspects in exploring women's experience of returning to work after maternity leave. This represents an important gap in the literature, since returning to work represents a particularly critical time in women's personal and occupational life, in which challenges and barriers may arise, potentially affecting their experience in the immediate future and years to come.
- Subjects
BREASTFEEDING; MENTAL health; HEALTH status indicators; PARENTAL leave; WORK-life balance; WORK experience (Employment); SYSTEMATIC reviews; JOB satisfaction; WOMEN employees; EMPLOYMENT reentry; WELL-being
- Publication
Archives of Women's Mental Health, 2024, Vol 27, Issue 5, p737
- ISSN
1434-1816
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00737-024-01464-y