The ‘bright side’ of the work-family interface; A brief work-family enrichment scale in a sample of health professionals

Even though the conflict perspective dominated work-family interface literature during the 1980s and 1990s, more recently the interest in exploring the positive side of interaction between work and family roles has been increasing. This study aimed to propose some theoretical reflections about the construct of work-family enrichment and to describe the initial validation of a brief work-family enrichment scale, based on Carlson, Kacmar, Wayne, and Grzywacz' (2006) work. The scale, which measures the two directions of enrichment (work-family and family-work), was administered to a sample of 307 respondents from two different North-Western Italian hospitals. Its psychometric characteristics are discussed in terms of factor structure, reliability, capability to differentiate among groups of subjects, convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity. The results of the data analysis confirmed the two-factor structure of the instrument and are in line with the indications in the literature. Research limits as well as implications for future research are discussed.