Mediated Parent-child Contact in Work-separated Families

Parents and children in families living with regular separation due to work develop strategies to manage being apart. We interviewed 14 pairs of parents and children (ages 7 -- 13) from work-separated families to understand their experiences and the strategies that they use to keep their family together. Parents focus on combining scheduled synchronous and spontaneous asynchronous communication to maintain a constant presence in the life of the child. Children, on the other hand, focus on other sources of support, on other activities, and on the eventual reunion. Both the remote parent and the child rely heavily on a collocated adult to maintain aware-ness and contact. We compare work-separated families with other types of separation and highlight opportunities for new designs.