Abstract

This study attempted to explore the experience related to the work-family balance of working moms during the COVID-19 period. To this end, in-depth interviews were conducted by recruiting 17 part-time and full-time working moms with at least 1 child under the age of 13. As a result of analyzing the data using the method of grounded theory, 106 concepts, 50 subcategories, and 24 categories were derived. The central phenomenon that working moms experienced in the process of work and family balance were "physical and emotional exhaustion", "anxiety and guilt about not doing well in situations of role conflicts that have to play various roles", "job crisis experienced by working mothers" and "deepening family conflict". The process of working moms overcoming the central phenomenon and achieving work-family balance was identified as five stages: the 'shock and confusion stage', the 'hard struggle stage', the 'active coping and compromise stage', the 'acceptance stage', and the 'post-traumatic growth stage'. Based on these results, discussions on the research results on the work-family balance of working mothers during the COVID-19 period and suggestions for follow-up studies were described.