Shifting the Load: A Pilot Study of a Behavioral Intervention to Reduce Gender Inequities in Household Labor and Improve Mental Health Outcomes.

The division of household labor within couples has been linked to mental and physical health and relationship quality, and may be a modifiable target of behavioral change. However, interventions that focus on domestic workload have received little empirical attention. Our pilot study evaluates the feasibility and acceptability of the commercially developed Fair Play Method online intervention among heterosexual, predominantly White mothers of preschool-aged children residing in the United States (n = 87). Just over half of participants (54%) completed the full intervention, indicating adequate but improvable feasibility, and participants rated the intervention as acceptable. Participants who completed a greater proportion of the intervention reported a significantly more egalitarian division of household labor at posttest. When women reported a more egalitarian balance of cognitive household labor after participating in the intervention, they reported lower posttest depression and stress and higher global mental and physical health, after adjusting for pretest levels. Women who reported a more egalitarian balance of physical household labor reported higher posttest relationship functioning and mental and physical health, after adjusting for pretest levels. In summary, this small, open-trial pilot study suggests that the division of labor can be modified in ways that benefit well-being, but our results warrant replication within a larger and more diverse sample.