Work-Life Conflict and Health Care Delivery

Perspectives of Healthcare Workers in Public Hospitals in the Cape Coast Metropolis, Ghana

Abstract

Healthcare workers are life savers. Their contributions to development are highly valued. However, given the nature of their job, it has become a hurdle managing paid-work and social life. Informed by the spillover and boundary theories, we examined how healthcare workers manage their paid work and their social lives leading to an influence on healthcare delivery in the Cape Coast Metropolis, Ghana. This was a quantitative study where a survey protocol was used to elicit data from 112 healthcare workers. The study found that female healthcare workers experienced work-life conflict more than their male counterparts. Both junior and senior healthcare workers experienced work-life conflict given the demands of their work. Younger healthcare workers expressed higher work-life conflict while the married juggled between these two domains because of extra responsibilities. The study concluded that paid work has interfered with the social lives of healthcare workers due to rigid work schedules, just as the lack of logistics and modern technology at the health facilities have foiled healthcare delivery. The study recommends that the Ministry of Health should resource social workers so that they can render adequate support to healthcare workers to ease work-life conflict and enhance healthcare delivery.