The open question, ‘What prevents you from reaching occupational balance?’,
was posed within a questionnaire aimed at exploring the meanings of
occupation, health and wellbeing with a cohort of first-year occupational
therapy students during their initial few weeks at university. Their written
responses to the question about occupational balance were analysed and are
discussed in this paper. Not surprisingly, occupational balance appeared to be
achieved by only a few and more by chance than design.
People, time and money factors were identified as the main impediments
to achieving occupational balance, with psychological and emotional pressures
being at the forefront. Interestingly, despite these barriers, the overall
educational benefit of considering the occupational balance question in this
way raised the students’ awareness of its relationship to health and wellbeing.
This increased awareness might have longer-term health benefits, both
personally and professionally, which would be worthy of further research
