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Table 2Exemplar Quotes for the Five Major Themes
Theme 1: Gendered distribution of household responsibilities
Among our respondents, both men and women medical physicists report that women carried the majority of the physical and mental workload22The invisible workload that drags women down. at home. None of the men respondents in this study reported carrying the majority of the household or childcare responsibility. Men respondents were also more likely to report having partners who work primarily inside the home, which facilitated the described role divisions. These differences in household responsibilities and having a spouse who can take on these household responsibilities was a critical component of managing work-life balance among our respondents.Theme 2: Impact of career/work on home and family life
In our sample, medical physicists expressed concern about the impact of their heavy workload on their personal and family life (or potential family life). Participants reported spending time working at home during off hours, which disrupted the household dynamic and their ability to switch between roles. Women respondents in this cohort more often described concerns about work-life integration, given the gendered division of domestic responsibilities as described in Theme 1.
Theme 3: Impact of family on career/work
The interplay between childcare needs and long or non-standard working hours impacts the career advancement of medical physicists with children. As one respondent pointed out:… childcare is a huge issue in the United States, and the fact that we don't work 8-5 in medical physics and to square that with the childcare offerings that is mostly aimed at 8-5 is very difficult. And that hits people, both men and women, early on in their medical physics when they're in their late twenties/early thirties, when it's really crucial to make career progress. (Woman faculty)
In our study, participants expressed concern about the impact of having a family on career advancement or putting in the necessary work hours to move up in the field of medical physics. One critical aspect of academic careers for medical physicists is carrying out and disseminating research. Lack of dedicated time for research makes it difficult for medical physicists with children to pursue research, which impacts their academic productivity and advancement. However, the breadth and depth of women respondents’ concerns about the impact of home and family on their careers were markedly different from men respondents.
Concerns about work-life balance impact women's expectations and experiences related to the type of career they felt they could have. For example, women respondents expressed concerns about the impact of motherhood on pursuing academic careers or academic leadership positions. Some women respondents with children struggled to find the time and flexibility to pursue learning and professional development opportunities. Women respondents also perceived that gender differences in childcare responsibilities had a negative impact on women's career advancement and women's ability to “keep up” in the field of medical physics.
Theme 4: Support and strategies for reconciling work-life conflicts
Study participants provided a number of examples of ways in which they manage work-life conflicts, including both individual strategies as well as structural supports (institutional, departmental, and colleague-based). Outsourcing domestic tasks was cited as one solution to making up for long hours spent at work. However, this is a luxury to which not all medical physicists may have access. Additionally, support from partners (see Theme 1) was often cited as a crucial aspect of being able to successfully navigate work-life conflicts (especially for men medical physicists in our interview cohort).
The support of colleagues was also an important aspect in managing the integration of work and home responsibilities. Medical physicists noted that working with their colleagues allowed them to gain the flexibility they needed to manage their work-life integration with children. However, not all physicists have access to this type of support in their clinics. Better management by leadership of work-life expectations, as well as flexible working hours were mentioned as potential structural solutions to managing work-life conflict among medical physicists.
More so than the men in our study cohort, women respondents discussed tradeoffs, both in reducing their availability at home so they could attend to work needs and vice versa. They also discussed additional personal and financial costs to managing work-life with children. For example, one woman faculty member arranged to live close to work, incurring private school expenses, in order to better balance work and children.
Theme 5: Role of medical physics professional societies in addressing work-life integration
Several respondents expressed appreciation for the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) offering childcare at the annual AAPM meeting. However, physicists would also like to see professional societies offer more courses or sessions related to work-life balance. Regarding professional offerings geared toward supporting women in the field, it was noted that strategies used by medical physicists at different stages in their careers (or with markedly different career paths) may not resonate with all physicists, and that AAPM should strive to include medical physicists from all demographic backgrounds in these gatherings.
Physicists would also appreciate professional societies supporting research and offering guidelines related to safe and reasonable work hour recommendations. However, medical physicists acknowledged barriers to professional societies making positive change in work-life integration, and many participants were unsure whether this was within professional societies’ (e.g., AAPM) purview.
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