Occupational balance among Swedish working academics at the age of 65 and beyond

Sammanfattning: Backgrund: Academics in retirement age are the longest working professional group in Sweden. The need for a prolonged working life among other professions has been arising due to the aging population and its various implications for society. Occupational balance is associated with subjective health and wellbeing as well as work ability thus potentially, having an impact on an individuals’ decision to extend their working life. Aim: The purpose of this study was to examine occupational balance in daily life of Swedish working academics in retirement age. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 working academics, aged 65 and beyond, who had been chosen via convenience and snowball sampling process. Collected data was examined in conformity with the latent content analysis. Results: Three themes were derived from the interviews: work as a central occupation in daily life, engagement in various daily occupations and experience of occupational balance (OB) and strategies to maintain health and well-being. Conclusion: The findings expand our understanding of OB among older workers by demonstrating that various aspects of work as well as their engagement in other occupations, need to exist in a relative harmony to achieve OB in everyday life and to continue working.