Date of Award

Fall 12-12-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

First Advisor

Lindsey Sherrill

Abstract

Women who have children with disabilities may struggle with both employment and childcare, and have barriers to re-entering the workforce. One struggle is the role identification and negotiation that occur when one transitions from one role to another. This research sought to answer the following questions: RQ 1. How does professional identity influence the “return to work” decisions for mothers who have children with disabilities? RQ 2. How do working mothers of children with disabilities negotiate their identities as caregivers and professionals? RQ 3. What other emerging factors affect women’s decisions to return to the workforce? A purposeful sample of 14 mothers who have children with disabilities was recruited for open ended interviews to understand the lived experiences of leaving the workforce to take on a full-time caregiving role and then returning to the workforce, and how the women struggled with their identities during the shift. This research used a directed qualitative approach, including inductive coding to allow unknown themes to emerge, and deductive coding guided by identity theory. Findings suggest that women who leave and return to the workforce face particular identity struggles, and that community support and employer flexibility can ease this struggle.

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