The Family Time Squeeze: Perceived Family Time Adequacy Buffers Work Strain in Certified Nursing Assistants With Multiple Caregiving Roles.

<p><b>PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: </b>This study examined how certified nursing assistants (CNAs) with unpaid family caregiving roles for children ("double-duty-child caregivers"), older adults ("double-duty-elder caregivers"), and both children and older adults ("triple-duty caregivers") differed from their nonfamily caregiving counterparts ("workplace-only caregivers") on four work strain indicators (emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and work climate for family sacrifices). The moderating effects of perceived family time adequacy were also evaluated.</p><p><b>DESIGN AND METHODS: </b>Regression analyses were conducted on survey data from 972 CNAs working in U.S.-based nursing homes.</p><p><b>RESULTS: </b>Compared with workplace-only caregivers, double-and-triple-duty caregivers reported more emotional exhaustion and pressure to make family sacrifices for the sake of work. Triple-duty caregivers also reported less job satisfaction. Perceived family time adequacy buffered double-duty-child and triple-duty caregivers' emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions, as well as reversed triple-duty caregivers' negative perceptions of the work climate.</p><p><b>IMPLICATIONS: </b>Perceived family time adequacy constitutes a salient psychological resource for double-duty-child and triple-duty caregivers' family time squeezes. Amid an unprecedented demand for long-term care and severe direct-care workforce shortages, future research on workplace factors that increase double-and-triple-duty caregiving CNAs' perceived family time adequacy is warranted to inform long-term care organizations' development of targeted recruitment, retention, and engagement strategies.</p>