The difficulties faced by U S . workers trying to balance excessive work and life/ family demands have been the subject of significant discussion in corporate America. Failure to achieve balance can lead to a variety of serious negative consequences for both individuals and organizations, including higher stress levels, increased absenteeism, and lower productivity.....Over the last several years, much has been written about the importance for busy US. residents to balance their work and life activities (Maas, 1998; McDonald & Hutcheson, 1998;Souroujon, 1999). Proponents of balance argue that serious personal and work-related problems invariably arise when individuals fail to effectively fulfill fundamental life or family responsibilities.Several explanations have been offered for why so many US. residents fail to achieve a healthy level of balance. Among the most frequently cited are (a) excessive job demands and constraints, brought about by increasing competitive pressures for improved productivity and cost-effectiveness and (b) rising household financial needs that necessitate overtime hours, second or third jobs, and full-time employment for all adult household members, including parents.The personal and societal consequences of failing to effectively meet one's major life or Growing problems with parenting and supervision of children and adolescents Escalating rates of juvenile delinquency and violence In addition to the significant individual and family benefits that these kinds of programs produce, they also directly affect the bottom line. Research results indicate that work/life balance and family-friendly initiatives can lead to significant improvements in recruiting, absenteeism, voluntary turnover, productivity, organizational commitment and loyalty, job satisfaction, stress levels, and health care costs (Cascio, 1998; Grover & Crooker, 1995;Marshall & Barnett, 1994). STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS NATIONAL SURVEYThe results of a recent national survey on stressful life events (Hobson et al., 1998) offer a clear explanation of why work/life balance programs are so successful and a compelling rationale for their development, continuation, and expansion. The researchers collected data from a large representative sample of 3,122 residents of the U S .Respondents were asked to rate the perceived stressfulness associated with 51 distinct life events, using a 1 to 100 (from low to high) scale. Average scores were then calculated for each of the 51 respondents, with higher scores indicating higher levels of stressfulness.The 51 life events, rank-ordered by their average stressfulness are presented in Table 1. The scores range from a high of 87 for "Death of a spouse/mate" to a low of 22 for "Receiving a ticket for violating the law."

Compared with nursing students, medical students began their student careers with less positive attitudes toward interprofessional communication and collaboration. In spite of the three-semester health care team program, these differences persisted.

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