Working Nurse, Graduate Student, Human Being: Why Work-Life Balance Matters in Online Nursing Education

Article information

de Luzuriaga-Balaria, C. J. R., Cleofas, J. V., & Nob, R. M. (2024). Work-life balance and online student engagement among registered nurses enrolled in online graduate nursing education: a mixed methods study. Contemporary Nurse, 60(5), 465–478. https://doi.org/10.1080/10376178.2024.2327350

What this study is about

More nurses are enrolling in graduate school while continuing to work full-time. This is especially true in online graduate nursing programs, which allow nurses to study while remaining employed, caring for family, or even working abroad. But online learning is not automatically easy just because it is flexible. Nurses still have to attend classes, read, submit requirements, participate in discussions, and complete graduate-level work while managing shifts, family duties, and personal needs. 

This study asks a practical question: Does work-life balance affect how engaged working nurses are in online graduate nursing education?

The researchers focused on Filipino registered nurses enrolled in a fully online Master of Arts in Nursing program at a private university in Cabanatuan City, Philippines. The program serves nurses based in the Philippines and abroad. Many enroll because graduate education helps them progress in clinical practice, management, teaching, and professional advancement. 

Why this matters

Graduate nursing education is important for building leadership, teaching capacity, research skills, and advanced professional competence. But many graduate nursing students are not full-time students in the traditional sense. They are working professionals. Some are bedside nurses. Some are managers. Some are overseas Filipino nurses. Some are spouses or parents. Many are trying to hold together work, study, and life at the same time. 

If universities want nurses to finish graduate school, they need to understand what helps or prevents engagement. Student engagement is not just “attendance.” It includes skills, emotion, participation, and performance in online learning. A student may be enrolled, but if they are exhausted, unsupported, or overwhelmed, they may struggle to participate meaningfully. 

What the researchers did

This was a convergent-parallel mixed methods study. That means the researchers collected quantitative and qualitative data at the same time, then integrated the findings. 

The study included 173 Filipino registered nurses who were working full-time and enrolled in an online Master of Arts in Nursing program during academic year 2021–2022. Out of 211 eligible students, 173 completed the survey, giving a response rate of 82%. 

The researchers measured:

• Work-life balance, using the Work-Life Balance Scale;
• Online student engagement, using the Online Student Engagement Scale;
• demographic and work characteristics, such as age, sex assigned at birth, civil status, living arrangement, income, years in service, work location, and managerial position; and
• written responses to open-ended questions about online learning and work-life-study balance. 

According to Table 1 on page 6, most respondents were in their early 30s, female, ever married, living with family, working abroad, and not holding a managerial position. 

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What the study found

1) Work-life balance and online engagement were generally high

The nurses reported high levels of work-life balance and high levels of online student engagement. This suggests that many working nurses were able to manage graduate school despite the demands of professional and personal life. 

This finding is hopeful. It shows that online graduate education can be a viable pathway for working nurses—especially when flexibility allows them to continue working while studying.

2) Work-life balance was linked to all domains of online student engagement

The main quantitative finding is clear: nurses with better work-life balance had higher online student engagement. Work-life balance was significantly and positively correlated with all four domains of engagement:

• skills,
• emotion,
• participation,
• and performance. 

The strongest relationship was with the performance domain, followed by participation, emotion, and skills. In plain language: nurses who felt more able to balance work and personal life were more likely to perform well, participate actively, feel emotionally connected to learning, and use effective learning skills online. 

3) Female nurses reported lower work-life balance

The study found that female respondents had significantly lower work-life balance than male respondents. The qualitative responses help explain why. Some female nurses described managing multiple roles at once: worker, wife, mother, graduate student, and household caregiver. 

One respondent described the difficulty of balancing schoolwork, house chores, and assisting children with online classes. Another described the stress of being a wife, student, and worker at the same time. These narratives show that “work-life balance” is gendered. Women may carry more unpaid domestic and caregiving labor on top of paid nursing work and graduate school. 

4) Nurse managers were more emotionally engaged

Nurses in managerial positions scored higher in the emotion domain of online student engagement. Their narratives suggest that graduate studies felt directly relevant to their leadership roles. Some nurse managers saw the MA Nursing program as a way to justify, strengthen, or professionalize their current administrative positions. 

This makes sense. If students can clearly see how graduate education connects to their present role and future career, they may feel more motivated and emotionally invested.

5) Many nurses valued online learning

More than half of the nurses who answered the open-ended questions described positive experiences with online graduate education. They used words like stimulating, motivating, fruitful, interesting, and convenient. Some said online learning helped them gain new nursing knowledge and skills while continuing to work. 

Flexibility was a major advantage. Students appreciated being able to attend classes or complete tasks at their own pace, especially when they were balancing work schedules.

6) Online learning was still difficult

About a quarter of respondents described challenges. These included balancing work and school, adjusting to online classes, and dealing with internet connectivity problems. Some students found online learning harder for absorbing lessons, especially when connectivity was unstable. 

A smaller group had mixed appraisals: online learning was stressful and difficult, but also meaningful because it moved them closer to their goals. This nuance is important. Online graduate education can be both empowering and exhausting.

7) Work-life-study balance depended on four factors

The qualitative findings identified four main factors that shaped balance.

First, time management mattered. Many nurses described tracking deadlines, organizing tasks, and using days off to study. 

Second, work-related factors mattered. Heavy workload, shifting schedules, 12-hour shifts, and lack of sleep made studying harder. But supportive colleagues and flexible workplaces helped. 

Third, personal and life factors mattered. Motivation, family responsibilities, leisure, home life, and support from loved ones shaped engagement. Some nurses had to reduce recreation or convert reading and research into their new form of “free time.” 

Fourth, study-related factors mattered. Asynchronous learning, flexible course design, competent professors, and empathetic teaching helped students manage graduate school alongside work and life. 

Bottom line

This study shows that online graduate nursing education is not only a matter of curriculum delivery. It is also a matter of life organization. Working nurses engage better when they have enough balance, time, support, motivation, and flexible learning structures. 

The key lesson is this: graduate nursing students are not only students. They are workers, caregivers, family members, migrants, managers, and professionals trying to grow. Online programs should be designed around that reality.

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Policy/practice recommendations

1. Assess work-life balance during academic advising
   Graduate programs should ask students about work schedules, family responsibilities, caregiving roles, and stressors during consultations. 
2. Use flexible and asynchronous learning wisely
   Online graduate nursing courses should include asynchronous tasks, recorded materials, flexible deadlines where reasonable, and clear pacing guides.
3. Support female graduate nursing students with multiple roles
   Programs should recognize that many women carry added domestic and caregiving responsibilities. Mentoring, deadline flexibility, peer support, and wellness check-ins may help.
4. Make course relevance explicit for working nurses
   Nurse managers were more emotionally engaged when graduate school connected to their current roles. Faculty can link assignments to students’ clinical, educational, or administrative work.
5. Encourage supportive workplaces
   Hospitals and health facilities can help nurses complete graduate studies by offering predictable schedules, study leave, manager support, and a culture that values advanced education. 
6. Provide wellness and counseling support
   Graduate nursing students who are underperforming may not lack ability; they may be overextended. Schools can offer mental wellness sessions, counseling, and referral pathways.
7. Train faculty in adult-friendly online teaching
   Faculty should design courses for working professionals: clear instructions, manageable workload, meaningful interaction, compassionate communication, and practical relevance.

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Glossary of key terms

• Work-life balance / WLB — The ability to manage work and personal life with low levels of conflict between the two. 
• Work-life-study balance — The practical balancing of paid work, personal or family life, and graduate school responsibilities.
• Online student engagement / OSE — A student’s involvement in online learning, including skills, emotion, participation, and performance. 
• Skills engagement — Learning behaviors such as organizing tasks, studying effectively, and making course material meaningful.
• Emotion engagement — Positive emotional connection to learning, such as motivation, interest, and enjoyment.
• Participation engagement — Active involvement in online class activities, discussions, and course requirements.
• Performance engagement — Effort directed toward doing well academically and completing learning tasks.
• Graduate nursing education — Advanced nursing education beyond the bachelor’s degree, often pursued for leadership, teaching, research, or career advancement.
• Master of Arts in Nursing / MAN — A graduate nursing degree that may prepare nurses for roles in education, management, research, and advanced professional practice.
• Convergent-parallel mixed methods — A research design where quantitative and qualitative data are collected at the same time and integrated during interpretation. 
• Inductive qualitative content analysis — A method of analyzing written or spoken responses by identifying codes, subthemes, and themes from the data.
• Asynchronous learning — Online learning that students can complete at different times, such as recorded lectures, modules, readings, or discussion boards.
• Synchronous learning — Real-time online learning, such as live classes through videoconferencing.
• Non-parametric tests — Statistical tests used when data do not meet assumptions for parametric testing, such as normal distribution.
• Mann–Whitney U test — A non-parametric test used to compare two groups.
• Spearman rho — A non-parametric correlation statistic used to examine relationships between variables.
• Adult learner — A student who brings work experience, responsibilities, and practical goals into the learning environment.