Towards an Experiential Model of Occupational Balance: An Alternative Perspective on Flow Theory Analysis

The Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM) being elaborated within flow theory provides a unique opportunity to collect data about occupational experiences. Both four‐ and eight‐channel models have been developed, to capture various dimensions of people's lived experience. However neither of these models seems suitable for analysis and discussion of balance within everyday life and its relationship to other factors such as well‐being. The purpose of this study was to analyse balance of everyday occupations from a novel experiential viewpoint, using an alternative model in which the eight channels are condensed into three dimensions; High Matched Experiences, High Not Matched Experiences and Low Challenge Experiences. A secondary analysis of published data from four cross‐cultural ESM‐studies with a total of 159 participants from three countries was conducted. The results show a similar pattern in all samples, with Low Challenge Experiences comprising barely half of the pattern and the other two di...