Balance, Balancing, and Health

Abstract

In this article we explore the concept of balance in the context of health. We became interested in balance during a grounded theory study of lay conceptualizations of cancer risk, in which participants were concerned with having a good life, which relied heavily on balancing processes. This led us to the qualitative literature about balance in the context of health, which was large and in need of synthesis. We identified 170 relevant studies and used Thomas and Harden's technique of "thematic synthesis" to identify key balance-related themes and to develop these into more abstract analytic categories. We found that balance and balancing were salient to people in three health-related contexts: health maintenance, disease or disability management and lay or professional caregiving. In each of these contexts, balance or imbalance could be a state or a process. In addition, those using the word had either an internally-or externally focused orientation to the world around them. Clinicians and public health practitioners might benefit from using these insights in their research and communication.Keywords communication, medical; concept analysis; health and well-being; health promotion; qualitative analysis Qualitative research sheds light on the ways in which people understand and experience health, disease and health care. Qualitative researchers elicit rich accounts of people's beliefs about specific diseases and experiences of particular illnesses and also empirically examine more abstract concepts such as risk (e.g., Hay, Shuk, Cruz, & Ostroff, 2005), health (e.g., Smith-DiJulio, Windsor, & Anderson, 2010), disability (e.g., Lutz & Bowers, 2005), community (e.g., Wong, 2 Sands, & Solomon, 2010), and quality of life (e.g., Hendry & McVittie, 2004). Such concepts are central to communication and have a powerful capacity to organize thought and shape behavior but their meanings cannot be assumed. This makes the systematic and comparative study of concepts is necessary (Quinton, 1988). Qualitative research also allows us to explore lay knowledge and its meanings. As Popay and Williams have argued in relation to public health:If research in the field of public health is to develop more robust and holistic explanations for patterns of health and illness in contemporary society, then it must utilize and build on lay knowledge-the meanings health, illness, disability and risk have for people (Popay & Williams, 1996, p. 760).In this research we explored the meanings of one abstract concept with particular salience in health: balance. We became interested in this concept while conducting a grounded theory study into lay people's conceptualizations of cancer risk. The central question in the study was: how do lay people understand the risk of getting cancer? We found that people thought of cancer risk only when cancer was personally salient. Their focus was not on disease but rather on having a good life, and this relied on balancing processes.In retrospect, this is unsurprising, given that balance is a concept th...

Balance in Everyday Life: Dual-Income Parents' Collective and Individual Conceptions

“…The extent to which the participants experienced balance was determined by how well the collective needs of colleagues and family members were met and how happy they perceived their families and workmates to be as a whole. This finding significantly extends the understanding of balance, as the concept is typically associated exclusively with a state of individual health and well-being (Hämmig & Bauer, 2009;Lipworth et al, 2011;Sheldon et al, 2010) or the fulfillment of role-related responsibilities from an objective point of view (Grzywacz & Carlson, 2007). Such conceptualizations do not facilitate a holistic understanding of balance because they overlook the importance of collective happiness to parents with young children.…”

“…Others use related terms such as life balance, work-life balance, and occupational balance. Recently published reviews of the literature on balance consistently identified a lack of consensus on the definition of balance (Chang et al, 2010;Lipworth, Hooker, & Carter, 2011).…”

Balancing exercises: Subjectivised narratives of balance in cancer self-health

“…While an ontology of balance has been developed (Christiansen and Matuska, 2006;Lipworth et al, 2011;Wagman et al, 2011), this article aims to explore an area that has received less attention: how ideas, practices and techniques of balance affect peoples' experiences of cancer, particularly when they are engaged with modalities of self-health (MacArtney, 2015;Broom, 2009). …”

“…In particular, Lipworth et al (2011) conducted an instructive conceptual meta-analysis of the use of balance in qualitative studies of healthcare to provide a typology of balance. Lipworth et al divided balance into four analytical typologies, including two mechanisms of balance (as a state or as a process) and two orientations (internalist and externalist).…”

Conditions and strategies high school students living in lodgings experience as important and helpful for their well-being

“…Responsibility can be illustrated as a continuum, ranging from a low degree of responsibility, exemplified as ignoring demands for which one is expected to take responsibility, to a burden, exemplified as demands related to achievements, performance and relations to others (Landstedt et al, 2009). Adolescents strive to obtain balance in these social processes, according to Lipworth, Hooker, and Carter (2011), who argue that health and well-being involve a state of balance in life.…”