[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-599563-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":80,"doc-detail-599563-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":73,"head_meta":75,"extra_data":77,"updated_unix":79},105,"en","a-portrait-of-balance-personal-and-professional-balance-among-student-affairs-educators","A Portrait of Balance - Personal and Professional Balance among Student Affairs Educators","","A qualitative research study examines how student affairs professionals define “balance” while integrating personal and professional lives, and describes their lived experience of achieving and maintaining balance. The study frames balance as an equity-like equilibrium and as a stable psychological state, contrasting it with the workplace “Holy Grail” and related definitions of health and productivity. It reviews higher education as a context where balance is challenging, connecting imbalance to stress, job satisfaction, burnout, and attrition for practitioners across career stages.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/a-portrait-of-balance-personal-and-professional-balance-among-student-affairs-educators/599563/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/a-portrait-of-balance-personal-and-professional-balance-among-student-affairs-educators/599563.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"jayni","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":26},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"What does the study investigate about balance among student affairs educators?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"It explores how student affairs professionals define balance between personal and professional life, and how those identified as “balanced” describe experiences of achieving and maintaining it.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"How is balance characterized in the study’s discussion?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"Balance is presented through definitions such as equilibrium/parity and stable mental or psychological steadiness, alongside broader views of a healthy, productive life integrating work, play, and personal growth.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"Why is achieving balance difficult for student affairs professionals?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"The helping nature of the profession, combined with demanding schedules and a reluctance to set limits, contributes to stress and burnout risk across different levels of practitioners.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},599563,1792491340,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,87,91,95,100,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":84,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":88,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":131},{"doc_id":78,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":26,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},3985747859343,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","# A Portrait of Balance:Personal and Professional Balanceamong Student Affairs Educators\n\nVictoria L.Guthrie,Evelyn Woods,Corinne Cusker,Margaret Gregory*  \nThe purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore (a)bow student affairsprofessionals define the concept of balance in the context of balancing their personal andprofessional lives and (b)bou student affairs professionals identijfied as “balanced”describe their experience of achieving and maintaining balance in their lives.  \nAn increasing number of working individuals have become concerned with the“Holy Grail of the workplace”—the ability to achieve a personal/professionalbalance(Buckner &Sandholtz,2003,p.68).Merriam-Webster's dictionarydefines balance as a “state of equilibrium or parity characterized by cancellationof allforces by equal opposing forces,\"or as“a stable mental or psychologicalstate;emotional stability”(Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary,2003).Kofodimos(1993)defined balance as “a satisfying,healthy,and productive lifethat includes work,play,and love;that integrates a range of life activities withattention to self and to personal and spiritual development;and that expressesa person's unique wishes,interests and values”(p.xiii).  \nBalance is a challenge for most individuals working in higher education (Tack,1991).Toma and Grady(2002)reported that achieving balance in one's life “isoften difficult but essential”(p.97).Within our profession we serve as botheducators and role models to students.Toma and Grady wrote that we bear aparticular responsibility in“practicing what we preach”(p.102)as weencourage students to think holistically about their development and lead livesof balance themselves.Student affairs professionals often assume manyresponsibilities within their positions,creating a high personal demand in termsof both talent and energy(Carpenter,2003).However,as demanding schedulesfrom work-related activities continue to mount,there is an increasingrecognition and cognizant effort by student affairs practitioners to be moremindful of their obligations to themselves,particularly in terms of maintaining adegree of personal and professional balance (Amy &Smith,1996;Carpenter,2003;Toma&Grady,2002;Reisser,2002;Tack,1991).  \nTHE COLLEGE STUDENTAFFAIRS JOURNAL  \nGUTHRIE,WOODS,CUSKER,GREGORY  \nArticles in many popular magazines,including Time,Fortune,Ebony,Money,andPrevention (Dollemore &Harrar,2003;Fisher,2003;Gilbert,2002;Steptoe,2003;Wang,2003),describing the busy lives of high profile professionals,havefrequently turned to the topic of balance.Most focus on interviews andprofiles of individuals who appear to have attained balance and offer lessonson how others can achieve the same.The sheer volume of publications withstrategies for achieving balance and avoiding burnout further identifies it as animportant topic.The publications range from journal articles to self helpbooks,all offering guidelines,models,and suggestions for achieving balance(Tarver,Canada,&Lim,1999;Markel,2000;Provost,1990;Reisser,2002).Many articles attempt to create a list of suggestions on how to solve the\"balance problem,\"while others find a fundamental problem with the typicalapproach to the topic and propose alternative ways of approaching the issue ofbalance(Caproni,1997;Kofodimos,1993).Secretan(2000)reported thatintegration,not balance,is the solution!  \nSeveral articles were specifically directed at student affairs professionals (Amy&Smith,1996;Bellman,1990;Berwick,1992;Toma &Grady,2002;Wiggers,Forney,&Wallace-Schutzman,1982),but contrary to the national trend,thestudent affairs literature offers comparatively little to practitioners interested inachieving balance as it relates specifically to their profession.Nearly a decadeago,Tack (1991)called for a shift away from the \"workaholic\"attitudesadopted by many individuals in higher education and toward a “work-to-live”philosophy,but our literature has not reflected this directive.This topicpredominantly emerged in st","cbCaidxYyDpO09iv","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidxYyDpO09iv","pdf",2579155,18,"English","# Background and Definitions of Balance\n## Balance as Equilibrium and Psychological Stability\n# Balance Challenges in Higher Education\n## Work Demands and Mindful Obligations\n# Student Affairs Literature and Burnout Context\n## Workplace Publications and Practitioner-Focused Gaps\n# Burnout, Stress, and Occupational Pressure\n## Limits, Caregiving Culture, and Job Stress Risk","[{\"question\":\"What does the study investigate about balance among student affairs educators?\",\"answer\":\"It explores how student affairs professionals define balance between personal and professional life, and how those identified as “balanced” describe experiences of achieving and maintaining it.\"},{\"question\":\"How is balance characterized in the study’s discussion?\",\"answer\":\"Balance is presented through definitions such as equilibrium/parity and stable mental or psychological steadiness, alongside broader views of a healthy, productive life integrating work, play, and personal growth.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is achieving balance difficult for student affairs professionals?\",\"answer\":\"The helping nature of the profession, combined with demanding schedules and a reluctance to set limits, contributes to stress and burnout risk across different levels of practitioners.\"}]","A Portrait of Balance - Personal and Professional Balance among Student Affairs Educators | PDF",1792089015,45]