The concept of work-life balance was always an implicit consideration during my time as an athletic trainer but was made explicit for me while conducting one of my first qualitative studies. When examining the professional socialization of athletic trainers,1 I learned of the various organizational influences experienced by athletic trainers and the negative consequences these influences had on those working in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I collegiate setting, including the high work volume and all-consuming nature of their role, which led to concerns about their quality of life. I vividly remember learning of their interrole conflict when participants expressed their advice to others: "[T]he advice or recommendations that I would give would be to find a way to realize that there is life outside of intercollegiate athletics"1 and "Figure out how to get away from it and still do the job. That's from people at my age level and [who] have been involved the number of years I have; we did not do a good job with that when we were younger."1 The findings underscored the conflict that can exist between one's professional work in the clinical setting and one's personal life. Although these results were not surprising, they raised an alarm for me, particularly because some of my respondents were concerned with burnout and found it difficult to attend to their personal needs and responsibilities while being engulfed in their work. I wanted to learn more, dive deeper into these experiences, and understand the factors that influenced this role conflict. Since this time, the concept of work-life balance has gained a great deal of attention in athletic training. I am glad to have played a very small part in the research on the topic and marvel at the extensive work that has been completed. Indeed, we have seen a proliferation of researchers examining work-life balance. What started with a focus on work and family interference (eg, work-family conflict and family-work conflict) and the factors that influenced the conflict progressed to a focus on work-life balance. Scholar leaders including Singe, Eason, Goodman, Eberman, and Kahanov, to name a few, were instrumental in the shift. This change in perspective was important as family is a confining construct that can connote relationships with a partner, spouse, sibling(s), child(ren), and parent(s). Of course, family is a key component of our lives, but life itself is much more encompassing. Furthermore, a recent investigation described the extent to which work and life can enrich one another2 —thus, we have now seen a shift in research focus from work-life interference to work-life enhancement. In summary, the breadth of research related to interference and enhancement has served us well. We have learned that attaining work-life balance in athletic training is a multifaceted endeavor influenced by actors within3-6 and outside an organization5,7-9 and the individuals themselves.2,5,7 The influences from these various levels coalesce to shape one's perception of balance. We have learned a great deal about the work-life interface from sociocultural, organizational, and individual levels and have gained a deeper understanding of its influence on specific life roles, such as parenting10 and motherhood.11 We have come a long way in furthering our realization that work-life balance is an attainable pursuit. But what future research directions are necessary to continue our efforts toward work-life balance for athletic trainers? I see 3 directions as necessary to advance our research in work-life balance. The first involves how we view "life," or nonwork domains. Second, given what we have learned at the individual level, we are poised to create professional development programming and examine its effects in enhancing resiliency and hardiness. Third, although cross-sectional and observational studies have served us well, longitudinal studies are needed to understand the temporal nature of perceptions and behavior associated with work-life balance.
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