This study is a follow-up to a qualitative study undertaken 15 years prior examining women’s experiences in multiple role balancing. At the time of the original study, which was completed in 1994, women were entering the work force in record numbers. These women found themselves raising children in a different world than when they grew up, when the majority of women stayed home with the children, and the father was the breadwinner. Professional women were forced to make choices between conflicting demands of career and family and a prevalent theme in the literature focused on their feeling stressed and guilty. Societal change has evolved relative to the emerging employment trends of today’s working mothers. In fact, the percentage of women in the workforce has actually been declining since entering the new millennium, a pattern that has not been demonstrated since the middle seventies (US Department of Labor, 2005).

Design: The research design for the original and this aftermath study is Grounded Theory based on Symbolic Interaction Theory.

Setting: Original and follow-up study participants were interviewed in either their home, at work or both.

Patients/Participants:     A purposive sample of 17 women representing diverse professions, married and mothering at least one child under six were interviewed, and, upon analysis, a number of common themes developed, from which emerged three general caTtegories: Wholistic Management, Support Resource Fit and Balance as Process. Ultimately, the theory generated was entitled Women’s Experiences Balancing Multiple Roles: Wholistically Processing On-Going Acceptable Peace (Murphy, 1994). Seven of the original study participants were re-interviewed as to their continued experiences in balancing multiple roles.            

Methods:  These findings were compared to current research in multiple role balancing, as well as with the findings from the original study.

Results: The aftermath study validated the thematic analysis and confirmed the findings of the original study. Additionally, due to emergence of new data from a retrospective view, the theme regarding spousal involvement was renamed, now Spouse as Partner, and reconfigured, and two new themes emerged: Using Diverse Resources and Import/Need to Work. In accordance, the original categories have been adjusted, and the evolving theory has been revisioned based on a developmental perspective, and is now titled Families Planning Forward: Wholistically Processing a Rich Life.

Conclusion/Implications for nursing practice:  Knowing that stress can lead to the development of adverse health concerns, an enlightened understanding of the actual experiences is essential in providing health care to this patient population.

Keywords:  balancing, woman, working, health