PONE-D-22-28085How do older women perceive the occupations and activities within their maternal role? Findings from an exploratory surveyPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Rand,

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Partly

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: 1.Despite the understanding of its development over time, there appears to be a void in the study of otherhood in later stages of women's lives. Only a few research, according to our literature search, dealt with the maternal role occupations of older, healthy women. Moms with functional disabilities or mothers of children with disabilities were the subjects of the majority of studies, however older women comprises a large group of older populations.

2. However The objective of this study was to outline the jobs, pursuits, and conceptions of motherhood held by older women. This knowledge might help elderly women's health and wellbeing in the future.It is crucial to comprehend the maternal function as a fulfilling life role that may inspire older women to engage in regular activities and professions, maintaining or improving their health and wellbeing in the process. BUT authors should have included a validated or specialized survey questionnaire which could have been more useful. However the used methodology and screened parameters seems to be well evaluated and results are interesting and useful.

2.In Fig3 : perceptions of The percentage of the participants who rated their agreement, partial agreement or disagreement with statements related to perceptions on the maternal role was very well explained but should also describehow elderly moms' perceptions of their health were affected by their close relationships with their children and grandchildren, how they assume their self worth , their engagement in social activity ? I suggest it should be more clearly explained and added in discussion part .

3. However this study has nicely reported links between the older mothers' life happiness and the help given to the kids. This shows that the mothering position, act as a meaningful life role has the potential to inspire older women who are at risk of disease and chronic conditions to engage in fulfilling careers, leading to better health outcomes.

Reviewer #2: The present manuscript entitled "How do older women perceive the occupations and activities within their maternal role? Findings from an exploratory survey" analyses various questions and responses for maternal roles.

However, the manuscript lacks the

1. data for financially independent participants

2. the dependance of the female participants on their present family

3. their physical disease status

4. the dependance of them or their children and vice versa

5. the cumulative data with results obtained for the participants.

5. the cumulative data with results obtained for the participants.

6. Error bars are missing, significance levels and data mapping with age is missing.

7. ANOVA can be used for conclusive reporting of the data.

The manuscript also needs thorough revision for language and repetitions. The efforts on clarity are required throughout the text.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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How do older women perceive the occupations and activities within their maternal role? Findings from an exploratory survey

PONE-D-22-28085R1

Dear Dr. Rand,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Neelu Jain Gupta, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Authors have adequately addressed the review comments of thge last set of review.Authors have exquisitely addressed the role of working older mother role survey in manuscript now.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

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