Assessing work and family balance among volunteered doctors in a virtual health community

Virtual health community, established by a team of medical doctors to improve healthcare services, is gaining popularity in the Internet. Despite many benefits including flexibility in terms of time and place, online doctors are facing work-family balance (WFB) issues. The effects of the virtual border created by computing technologies towards WFB remain inconclusive, whereby only a few studies
managed to delve into this blurring boundaries. This study aimed to assess the experience of doctors who were volunteering online in balancing work and family. The assessment was conducted by applying the Work-Family Border theory to identify the role and the strategies used by the online volunteering doctors in attaining WFB. This study used qualitative single case study research design and methodology. The semi-structured interview technique and document analysis were carried out to explore the doctors’ roles as well as their employed strategies. Thematic analysis was performed to analyze the data. The findings indicate that the doctors are the central participants in the work and family domains that allows them to achieve WFB. In addition, they are able to establish boundaries between work and family by implementing these four strategies: leveraging ICT, adjusting time management, utilizing others and prioritizing. This study contributes to the Work-Family Border theory by highlighting the determination of employees in integrating ICT into their work and family lives and addressing the achievement of balance. The findings support the integration of Web 2.0 into a virtual health environment to strengthen virtual communication as well as to create a more supportive environment that is similar to the face-to-face interaction.