Occupational Commitment Among Women Clinical Educators in Pakistan: The Impact of Social Status and Work-Family Interference

Author(s) : Khadija Mazher1 and Sara Rizvi Jafree2*

Abstract:

Women clinical educators play a vital role in strengthening a nation's healthcare system by training future doctors and healthcare professionals. Despite the fact that more than 80% of medical graduates are females, less than 50% are practicing clinicians, and even less are engaged as clinical educators. To complicate matters, the retention of women clinical educators in the health sector and their occupational commitment is also low, due to challenges such as low social status and work interference with family. The aim of this research was to identify the relationship between social status and occupational commitment in woman clinical educators, and also to identify the influence of work interference with family on social status and occupational commitment. A survey was administered to 200 currently working woman clinical educators from three cities through a purposive sampling technique. Multiple linear regression results revealed that (i) the higher social status, the higher the occupational commitment [F (11, 196) = 4.181, p< 0.000], (ii) the higher the work interference with family, the lower the social status [F (11, 196) = 5.870, p< 0.000], and (iii) the higher the work interference with family, the lower the occupational commitment [F (11, 193) = 3.263, p> 0.000]. Pakistan is in dire need to increase and retain woman clinical educators in the health sector. This is possible if policies are launched to support improved social status and work family balance for woman clinical educators in the country. Improvement in occupational commitment of women clinical educators will have wider implications on job satisfaction, patient safety practices, teaching quality, family quality of life, and the quality of care provided to patients and family attendants.

Keywords: Social status, Occupational commitment, Women clinical educators, Role burden, Work interference with family.