Edited by Kathleen Matuska and Charles Christiansen
Associate Editors Helene Polatajko and Jane Davis
Life Balance: Multidisciplinary Theories and Research is a unique volume that offers empirical research and theories for a concept not yet widely recognized in the scientific community. Kathleen Matuska and Charles Christiansen, joined by Helene Polatajko and Jane Davis, have assembled scholars who address various ways to think about balanced lifestyles and how this timely concept compares to other ideas about human well-being.
This rich collection of ideas results from a conference involving international scientists who gathered for a discussion on theory and research related to lifestyles that promote health and longevity. The book identifies conceptual commonalities, relationships, and differences associated with life balance research that is ongoing in various disciplines but is often described using different terminology.
Who will be interested in Life Balance: Multidisciplinary Theories and Research?
- Scientists in the occupational therapy and occupational science communities
- Professionals in public health, community health, and wellness
- Scientists in family and leisure studies, as well as time use scientists
- Specialists in human resource development, including life coaches and executive coaches
- Those specializing in psychology and sociology, social gerontology, social anthropology, social geography, and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.
This groundbreaking and forward-thinking text, co-published with Slack Inc., provides a multidisciplinary approach to learning about patterns and characteristics of everyday living that may contribute to reduced stress; lower levels of chronic illness; and happier, longer lives.
In this time of multiple global challenges, the timeliness, relevance, and importance of stimulating research that cuts across multiple disciplines to shed insight on lifestyles that may lead to improved coping is easily apparent. Life Balance: Multidisciplinary Theories and Research was assembled with that end in mind.
Contents
Section I. Life Balance in Perspective
Chapter 1. Life Balance: Evolving the Concept
Chapter 2. Life Balance: The Meaning and the Menace in a Metaphor
Chapter 3. Problematizing Life Balance: Difference, Diversity, and Disadvantage
Chapter 4. Optimal Lifestyle Mix: An Inductive Approach
Chapter 5. Multiple Roles and Life Balance: An Intellectual Journey
Section II. Measuring Life Balance
Chapter 6. Defining and Validating Measures of Life Balance: Suggestions, a New Measure, and Some Preliminary Results
Chapter 7. Measuring Life Balance Through Discrepancy Theories and Subjective Well-Being
Chapter 8. Time Use and Balance
Chapter 9. Aspects of Daily Occupations That Promote Life Balance Among Women in Sweden
Section III. Conceptualizing Life Balance
Chapter 10. Importance of Experiential Challenges in a Balanced Life--Micro- and Macro-Perspectives
Chapter 11. A Theoretical Model of Life Balance and Imbalance
Chapter 12. Another Perspective on Life Balance: Living in Integrity With Values
Section IV. Life Balance for Specific Populations
Chapter 13. The "Hurried" Child: Myth vs. Reality
Chapter 14. Time Use Imbalance: Developmental and Emotional Costs
Chapter 15. Emotional Regulation, Processing, and Recovery After Acquired Brain Injury: Contributors to Life Balance
Chapter 16. Professional Coaching for Life Balance
Section V. Future Research on Life Balance
Chapter 17. Research Directions for Advancing the Study of Life Balance and Health
978-1-55642-906-4, 274 pages, 2009