Sobrecarga de actividades y autocuidado en madres solteras pertenecientes al programa Círculo de mujeres de la parroquia San Joaquín, Cuenca 2022

Abstract

The overload of activities refers to the excess of tasks or responsibilities that a person has, which could affect his self-care; since the time he spends to take care of other activities makes it difficult to have his own time, and one of the populations in which this overload has been identified are single mothers. Therefore, the general objective of this study is to investigate about the overload of activities and the self-care of single mothers of the "Circle of Women" program established in the parish of San Joaquín of the canton of Cuenca, and as specific objectives to explore about the overload of activities in single mothers belonging to the Círculo de Mujeres program and to know about their self-care. This research was developed from a qualitative approach with phenomenological design. The population was seven single mothers between 25 and 43 years of age, selected through homogeneous sampling complying with the inclusion criteria. A semi-structured interview prepared based on categories such as activity overload, health and self-care was used, which was validated by expert reviewers. The results obtained show that the overload of activities that exist in the daily life of single mothers has repercussions on their self-care, since they must fulfill different responsibilities such as work, home care, parenting among others, which limits the time for their self-care, damaging both their physical and mental health, showing bodily and emotional discomfort with negative symptoms such as tiredness, fatigue and stress.