Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Terreca DeFehr for completing her McNair Summer Research Internship! She worked with Dr. Jill Seiver on her summer 2023 research, “Worklife Balance.” Her research was presented on August 16, 2023, at the McNair Summer Research Symposium.
Terreca’s research expanded the findings of an existing dataset (N= 508) from Seiver and Pope, “Work-Family And Family-Work Conflict As A Function Of Role Commitment And Core Self-Evaluation”; she analyzed the role that the participant values most (partner, parent, employee), whether they view their work as a job or a career, annual income, and hours worked per week would all be factors in determining how Core Self-Evaluation is affected.” Overall, Terrace found “the concept of work-life balance is as subjective as the people who experience it”.
Of the findings, Terreca states:
Although work-life balance has been difficult to define, this study demonstrates that how we spend our time, whether we consider our work a job or a career, the amount of money we make, and which role we value most all have an impact on our self-worth. In conclusion, such caveats of work-life balance are as subjective as there are humans, yet the outcomes of her research show a significance in how our work and role values most affect one’s CSE; her research leaves her curious and shifts her perspective to wholehearted living. However, the research results show that our work and role values have a significant impact on our CSE. Her research has left her curious and shifted her perspective to wholehearted living. In Brené Brown’s talk on The Power of Vulnerability, she shares, “Humans are wired for connection: it is what we are here for, what gives meaning to our lives.” This brings her attention to the results of her research, which show that our CSE is affected when we are connected to what matters most to us.
Terreca is pursuing a PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Organizational Psychology, or Social Work. This will allow her to conduct research that improves the outcomes of families involved with Child Welfare. Ultimately, Terreca hopes to contribute to the transformation of the Child Welfare System by developing best practices highlighting parents involved in the system. “People with lived experience (PLEs) have unique insights and firsthand knowledge that can significantly improve the effectiveness and empathy of existing services while strengthening the sense of belonging and keeping families together.”
