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143336

The Impact of Maternal Employment on Health of Children Under Two Years Old

Article

Last updated: 01 Jan 2025

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Abstract

Introduction: Women's labor force participation has risen around the globe in the past
few decades, maternal employment can affect children's well-being through multiple
channels, including income effects, decisions about health inputs, and time spent with
children. Overall, women's employment affects child health widely. Aim of work: To
study the impact of maternal employment on breastfeeding practice, nutritional status,
and motor development of children under two years old. Materials and methods: An
analytical cross-sectional study was conducted during the period from May 2018 to
December 2019, on 400 children under two years old who were attending a Pediatrics
Clinic or Vaccination Unit at the Primary Health Care Centers at Shebin Alkom district,
Menoufia governorate. The children who fulfilled inclusion criteria were involved in the
study, and their mothers were interviewed using an interview questionnaire. Physical
examination and complete blood count were done for children. Results: Working
mothers represented 25% of the studied sample. There were statistically significant
differences between employed and unemployed mothers as regards education, income,
and socioeconomic standard. There were statistically significant differences between
the studied groups in breastfeeding practices; exclusive breastfeeding, frequency
and duration of breastfeeding were lower among employed mothers, the rate of
hospitalization and different infections, i.e., gastroenteritis, otitis media, and repeated
throat infection, were significantly higher among children of employed mothers
compared to children of unemployed mothers (p-value ˂0.05). There was no statistically
significant difference between children of employed and unemployed mothers as regard
motor development, dentation, weight for age, length for age, and weight for length, while anemia was significantly higher among children of unemployed compared to
employed mothers. Conclusion and recommendations: Maternal employment has a
negative impact on breastfeeding practice and increase infectious diseases occurrence
and hospitalization rate among children. The study showed that there was no effect
on motor development and nutrition status of the children. The government has to
encourage the implementation of national legislations, which mandated the employers
to provide their employees with childcare centers and nurseries near to the workplace.

DOI

10.21608/ejom.2021.143336

Keywords

Maternal employment, Child health, Breastfeeding and Nutritional status

Authors

First Name

Abu salem

Last Name

ME

MiddleName

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Affiliation

Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Egypt

Email

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City

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Orcid

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First Name

ALshazaly

Last Name

HM

MiddleName

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Affiliation

Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Egypt,

Email

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City

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Orcid

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First Name

Ibrahem

Last Name

RA

MiddleName

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Affiliation

Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Egypt

Email

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City

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Orcid

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First Name

Al-oshari

Last Name

SHA

MiddleName

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Affiliation

Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Taiz University, Yemen.

Email

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City

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Orcid

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First Name

Allam

Last Name

HK

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Taiz University, Yemen.

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Orcid

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Volume

45

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

21153

Issue Date

2021-01-01

Receive Date

2021-01-26

Publish Date

2021-01-01

Page Start

81

Page End

96

Print ISSN

1110-1881

Online ISSN

2357-058X

Link

https://ejom.journals.ekb.eg/article_143336.html

Detail API

https://ejom.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=143336

Order

6

Type

Original Article

Type Code

577

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Journal of Occupational Medicine

Publication Link

https://ejom.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

The Impact of Maternal Employment on Health of Children Under Two Years Old

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023