Impact of /on Life
| Author | Year | Participants | Type of study | Study objective | Findings |
| Straehley and Longo20 | 2006 | Women in surgical residency or board certified surgeons | Survey | To understand if family issues affect women in surgery | 90 responses to the survey (60%) identified themes around stressful tension between career demands and family, difficulty during childbearing years, designed to have a ‘wife’ at home. |
| Troppmann et al 21 | 2009 | American Board of Surgery | Survey | To assess challenges faced by women surgeons regarding personal family life compared with men counterparts. | 178 Board certified women surgeons (20.3%) responded of this 82.5% would choose their profession again, 62.4% had children later in life, 26.9% spouses were primary caregivers, 67.8% felt maternity leave was important and childcare at work (67.8%) |
| Merchant et al 22 | 2013 | Surgical Residents and Program Directors across Canada | Survey | To explore the attitudes around pregnancy during surgical residency | 160 residents (30%) and 8 Programme Directors (50%) identified inadequacies within programmes to support pregnancy during residency, time off and breast feeding |
| Brown et al 23 | 2014 | UC Davis General surgery graduates | Retrospective review | To investigate if child rearing increases attrition from residency | Nine women (10.5%) surgical residents had 10 pregnancies completed the programme and 87.5% went on to fellowship. There was no association with pregnancy and attrition. |
| Chen et al 24 | 2013 | National Study of Expectations and Attitudes of Residents in Surgery | Prospective longitudinal | To characterise the effects of marriage and childbirth on the experience of surgery residency | For women surgical residents marriage (p=0.005) and experiencing pregnancy and childbirth (p=0.008) were a source of negative emotions compared with men counterparts who reported feeling happier and supported. |
| Baptiste et al 25 | 2017 | Surgeons and all surgical trainees at one institution | Survey quantitative | To evaluate the gender differences in professional advancement, work–life balance, and satisfaction | Gender disparities may be overcome by improved recruitment and retention strategies. Women were more likely to be married to professionals and responsible for childrearing. |