Parenting Journal · Volume 1 · Issue 5 · Licensed source edition
‘I can no longer do my work like how I used to’: a mixed methods longitudinal cohort study exploring how informal working mothers balance the requirements of livelihood and safe childcare in South Africa
Originally published 2021-08-06 · BMC Women's Health
BMC · DOI 10.1186/s12905-021-01425-y ↗
Working-family evidence
Work, care and the whole person.
Follows how livelihood pressures, childcare reliability and limited formal support interact, making coordination around care essential to a workable return.
Directly examines work and family life, parenting, caregiving or employment policies for families.
Editorial reading guide · Collaboration
Who helps keep childcare safe and reliable when a parent must earn an income?
Follows how livelihood pressures, childcare reliability and limited formal support interact, making coordination around care essential to a workable return.
Study context
24 informal women workers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, followed from late pregnancy to return to work.
Age / stage: Mothers and their new infants.
Read with three questions
- How did planned and actual work-return timing differ?
- What did interviews and photovoice reveal about affordability and carers’ reliability?
- Which needs would require cooperation beyond the mother’s individual flexibility?
Keep the limits in view
The small selected cohort gives rich accounts rather than representative rates or causal effects; informal work and local childcare conditions differ from formal corporate employment.
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Original authorship, publication date, journal and DOI are preserved. This issue’s TRICK placement and reading questions are editorial additions, not claims made by the original authors.
Christiane Horwood; Rachael Hinton; Lyn Haskins; Silondile Luthuli; Sphindile Mapumulo; Nigel Rollins (2021). ‘I can no longer do my work like how I used to’: a mixed methods longitudinal cohort study exploring how informal working mothers balance the requirements of livelihood and safe childcare in South Africa BMC Women's Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-021-01425-y
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