title: [Female roles and conflicts in health care professions].
abstract: The burdens of the caring and curing professions are increased in the female workforce by childbearing and the duties of childrearing, and serving a family as well.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  the objective of our research was to study and compare future and present family and career plans of students and active professionals (nurses and female doctors), related to their physical and mental health and conflicts.
  
  
  METHODS
  Our cross-sectional research was carried out among female nursing college students (N = 226), female medical students (N = 117), and among professional nurses and female doctors in hospitals (N = 409).
  
  
  RESULTS
  students consider parallel their future family and workplace roles. The number of children planned is the same as in the general population, but female medical students would like to have more children than nursing students. Professional nurses and female doctors hold both their family and workplace roles in high esteem. Role conflicts are interrelating with their career and life satisfaction, health condition, and the prevalence of psychosomatic symptoms. Their roles as a social model in health promotion are rather questionable, for their insufficient health and risk behaviors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  we can state that there is a considerable tension and contradiction in planned and actual roles of future and present female workforce of Hungary's health care system. In many cases they are unable to fulfill requirements based on their social engagement. Relevant handicaps of nursing college students and female professional nurses are more prevalent, therefore we propose further analytic and comparative research in the future.
authors.affiliation: Semmelweis Egyetem, Egészségtudományi Kar Egészségügyi Kultúrtörténeti Tanszék Budapest Vas utca 17. 1088. feith@se-etk.hu
authors.forename: Helga Judit
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Feith
mesh_terms: D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000209:etiology; D002321:Career Choice; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008603:Mental Health; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009726:Nurses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010819:Physician's Role; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data