Work experiences among healthcare professionals in the beginning of their professional careers A gender perspective

...................................................................... 7 SVENSK SAMMANFATTNING ............................................ 9 ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................... 11 ORIGINAL PAPERS ........................................................ 12 INTRODUCTION ............................................................. 13 Theoretical development of four healthcare professions ......... 13 Gender theory ......................................................................... 14 Working life today and work in health care ............................. 15 Gender in healthcare organization and healthcare work ......... 15 Paid work and unpaid household work .................................... 17 Psychosocial working conditions measured by two job stress models .................................................................................... 17 The effort-reward imbalance model .......................................... 18 The demand-control model ...................................................... 19 AIMS OF THE THESIS ..................................................... 20 Specific aims ........................................................................... 20 METHODS ...................................................................... 21 Participants and data collection .............................................. 21 Questionnaire .......................................................................... 25 The effort-reward imbalance model .......................................... 25 The demand-control model ...................................................... 26 Imputation of missing values .................................................. 27 Presentation of data ................................................................ 27 Statistical analysis .................................................................. 28 Paper I and II........................................................................ 28 Paper III and IV .................................................................... 29 Ethical approval ...................................................................... 29 RESULTS ........................................................................ 30 Study group 1 and 2 ................................................................ 30 Working conditions and career preferences ................................ 30 Unpaid household work ........................................................... 31 Work satisfaction ................................................................... 32 Study group 3 ......................................................................... 34 Demand and control ............................................................... 35 Extrinsic effort and reward ...................................................... 35 Work related overcommitment (WOC) ...................................... 36 Work satisfaction ................................................................... 36 Study group 4 ......................................................................... 37 Extrinsic effort and reward ...................................................... 37 WOC .................................................................................... 37 Work satisfaction ................................................................... 39 DISCUSSION ................................................................. 40 Career preferences .................................................................. 40 Psychosocial working conditions ............................................. 42 Dissatisfaction with work, management and work organization ................................................................................................ 43 The mismatch between academic education and professional practice ................................................................................... 44 Gender and organization ......................................................... 45 Paidand unpaid work ............................................................ 45 Methodological considerations ................................................ 46 Implications for future research ............................................. 47 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................... 48 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................... 49 REFERENCES .................................................................. 51