A qualitative exploration of balancing family, work, and academics among female graduate nursing students in a lower-middle-income country

Career women have varied responsibilities in society, and therefore, finding a balance among work, family, and personal life duties is becoming increasingly difficult. The literature explains that there is no one-size-fits-all standard for work-life balance. This study sought to explore ways of coping with family life and schooling among Ghanaian nurses and midwives pursuing graduate programmes without study leave. The paper was carved out of a more extensive study exploring female graduate students’ life experiences, combining work, family, and schooling. The study used an exploratory descriptive qualitative design through a purposive sampling approach to recruit 20 female nurses and midwives pursuing graduate programmes in three public universities in Ghana. The study obtained ethics approval from the Noguchi Memorial Institutes of Medical Research. Participants used social media, people in their social circles and religion to cope. Families, friends, church leaders, managers at work, and coursemates assisted in various ways. The support was in the form of money, help with household chores and childcare, granting off days, assistance with assignments, and counselling. Participants neglected the care of their husbands and children to concentrate on work and schooling. The graduate students watch movies, TikTok videos and listen to various music. Some forced themselves to sleep and as well, walk with loved ones to relief stress. Above all, participants relied on God via prayers and words of inspiration from motivational speakers. The authors believe that establishing and implementing family-friendly human resource policies targeting career women to empower themselves through graduate education will be beneficial.