Rewind Study
RETURN TO WORK INVENTORY DEVELOPMENT

Worldwide, many mothers return to work within the first few months after giving birth. While differences exist, for many mothers this transition represents a stressor. This study first defined the construct of maternal postpartum work resumption stress. Secondly, a self-report measure was developed and validated to be able to measure this stress.

The reliable and valid REturn to Work INventory (REWINd) with 30 items was established. We found evidence for the existence of three factors that reflect the thoughts and emotions about difficulties in finding balance between work and life domain, separation from the baby, and lack of positivity about returning to the workplace.

Moreover, support for convergent and discriminant validity was found, which indicates that maternal postpartum work resumption stress is related, yet distinct, from other aspects of maternal well-being, including anxiety, depression and work-family conflict.

We will use REWINd to learn more about how mothers handle stress when they go back to work after having a baby. We want to understand why some mothers adjust better than others and what the effects of this stress are on both mothers and their families. Our goal is to find ways to support mothers who find it difficult to return to work.

We want to thank the nearly 600 mothers who took part in the REWIND studies. Their input helped us create this questionnaire, which will fuel more research on this important topic.

Want to know more: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10731911241246607

The following people from our lab are working in this study: Ana Okorn, Roseriet Beijers