Effect of the variables of sex and marital status among nurses in terms of family conflicts: a meta-analysis study

Work-family conflicts affect employees' life quality adversely, particularly their family relationships, health statuses, and work performances. In researches conducted previously, the effect of sex and marital status variables, among several other factors, on work-family conflict vary. Therefore, the present research is planned as a meta-analysis study to determine the effect of the variables of sex and marital status on nurses' work-family conflicts. The study was conducted between 01.01.2009 and 31.12.2019 and covered publications and theses that may be accessed. Reporting guideline titled "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)" Meta-Analyses protocol used for systematic compilation and meta-analyses was used during reporting of the study. In this study, the consistency between the researcher and another observer (advisor) was established by Cohen's Kappa analysis, and the compliance rate was found as 0,83 (very good compliance). The number of samples was 6722, including 6536 samples for the sex variable and 4650 variables for the marital status variable. 17 studies were included in a meta-analysis total, including 16 studies for the sex variable and 14 studies for the marital status variable. Fisher's Z and ANOVA were used in effect size calculation. Cochran's Q statistic was used to test the heterogeneity between studies, and the random effect model was selected according to the result. A funnel plot diagram, results of Begg and Mazumdar Rank correlation analysis and Egger regression analysis were used to test the publication bias of studies included in the meta-analysis. We detected that included studies did not involve any publication bias for the sex variable (Tau: 0,11667, p= 0,528) and marital status variable (Tau: 0,263, p= 0,188). In this study, we concluded that sex and marital status variables have a weak effect on work-family conflict in a positive direction. In other words, we concluded that being a woman and being married makes an effect on work-family conflict, i.e., female nurses experience more amount of work-family conflicts compared to male nurses (z=0,133 (s.s=0,073)), and married nurses experience more amount of work-family conflicts compared to single nurses (z= 0,152 (s.s=0,068)). In the sub-group analyses performed on the variables of sex and marital status, in consideration of countries where researches were conducted, we concluded that women and married nurses working in Jordan and Turkey were experiencing more amount of work-family conflicts and that the country where studies were conducted (p=0,000) is a moderator