Personal and Bystander Harassment Experiences and Outcomes for Hospital Nurses.

OBJECTIVES: To examine experiences, context, and outcomes of personal and bystander harassment among hospital nurses. BACKGROUND: Harassment of nurses is common, affecting victims and bystanders. Yet, little is known about the nature and context of these experiences. METHOD: A cross-sectional study of hospital nurses was completed via an anonymous online survey. RESULTS: A majority of nurses experienced personal or bystander harassment. Nearly half experienced both of these forms of harassment. Personal harassment victims frequently told their managers and coworkers, but actions to prevent further harassment or mitigate harm were rare. Bystanders frequently intervened to help victims of personal harassment but rarely reported it. These experiences negatively impacted work relationships and performance. CONCLUSION: Personal and bystander harassment may co-occur in cultures that tolerate harassment. The lack of response to personal harassment and lack of reporting of bystander harassment may perpetuate it.

A preliminary scale for assessing attitudes toward homosexuals in the military.

This paper reports a factor analytical study of responses to statements of attitudes concerning lesbians and gay men in the military by 72 23.4-yr.-old members of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Using exploratory factor analysis with an oblique rotation four factors were found which accounted for 64.9% of the total common variance. A factor labeled Trust accounted for 40.6% of the common variance, Comfort accounted for 8.7%, Acceptance accounted for 8.2%, and the fourth factor, Threat, accounted for 7.5%. Cronbach a ranged from .63 to .78. Validity was .75 when scores were correlated with those on the Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men scale, supporting the 4-factor interpretation. It is recommended that additional factor analyses be performed to further investigate the validity of the four factors and that of the entire scale.

Consideration of future safety consequences: a new predictor of employee safety.

BACKGROUND: Compliance with safety behaviors is often associated with longer term benefits, but may require some short-term sacrifices. This study examines the extent to which consideration of future safety consequences (CFSC) predicts employee safety outcomes. METHODS: Two field studies were conducted to evaluate the reliability and validity of the newly developed Consideration of Future Safety Consequences (CFSC) scale. Surveys containing the CFSC scale and other measures of safety attitudes, behaviors, and outcomes were administered during working hours to a sample of 128 pulp and paper mill employees; after revising the CFSC scale based on these initial results, follow-up survey data were collected in a second sample of 212 copper miners. RESULTS: In Study I, CFSC was predictive of employee safety knowledge and motivation, compliance, safety citizenship behaviors, accident reporting attitudes and behaviors, and workplace injuries - even after accounting for conscientiousness and demographic variables. Moreover, the effects of CFSC on the variables generally appear to be direct, as opposed to mediated by safety knowledge or motivation. These findings were largely replicated in Study II. CONCLUSIONS: CFSC appears to be an important personality construct that may predict those individuals who are more likely to comply with safety rules and have more positive safety outcomes. Future research should examine the longitudinal stability of CFSC to determine the extent to which this construct is a stable trait, rather than a safety attitude amenable to change over time or following an intervention.

Gays in the U.S. military: reviewing the research and conceptualizing a way forward.

This article contributes to ongoing discussions related to the challenges and opportunities associated with the participation and inclusion of openly gay service personnel within the U.S. military. The article reviews research related to sexual orientation and military service and outlines a theory of the antecedents and outcomes of open integration of gays in the military environment. We discuss implications of this theory for future research in this area.

Total Force Fitness in units part 1: military demand-resource model.

The military unit is a critical center of gravity in the military's efforts to enhance resilience and the health of the force. The purpose of this article is to augment the military's Total Force Fitness (TFF) guidance with a framework of TFF in units. The framework is based on a Military Demand-Resource model that highlights the dynamic interactions across demands, resources, and outcomes. A joint team of subject-matter experts identified key variables representing unit fitness demands, resources, and outcomes. The resulting framework informs and supports leaders, support agencies, and enterprise efforts to strengthen TFF in units by (1) identifying TFF unit variables aligned with current evidence and operational practices, (2) standardizing communication about TFF in units across the Department of Defense enterprise in a variety of military organizational contexts, (3) improving current resources including evidence-based actions for leaders, (4) identifying and addressing of gaps, and (5) directing future research for enhancing TFF in units. These goals are intended to inform and enhance Service efforts to develop Service-specific TFF models, as well as provide the conceptual foundation for a follow-on article about TFF metrics for units.

Accident under-reporting among employees: testing the moderating influence of psychological safety climate and supervisor enforcement of safety practices.

We examined accident under-reporting with data from 425 employees employed in 5 industries with above average risk for employee injuries. We expected that rates for unreported accidents would be higher than rates for reported accidents; and that organizational safety climate and perceptions of supervisor enforcement of safety policies would moderate the relationship between unreported accidents and reported accidents. Results showed that the number of unreported accidents was significantly higher than the number of reported accidents. There was an average of 2.48 unreported accidents for every accident reported to the organization. Further, under-reporting was higher in working environments with poorer organizational safety climate or where supervisor safety enforcement was inconsistent. We discuss the implications of these findings for improving accident under-reporting and occupational safety in the workplace.