Exploring Health Literacy and Psychological Resilience as Moderators of Symptoms of Mental Illness Among Australian Men.

Although highly related, mental illness may not fully determine perceived well-being, a distinction captured by dual-continuum models. Separating mental illness and well-being into related but separate constructs prompted investigation into potential buffers to reduce the impact of mental illness on perceived well-being. This study explored two such buffers in health literacy and psychological resilience among Australian men. Using the Ten to Men Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health, this secondary data analysis of n = 8,408 men between 18 and 60 years of age assessed the moderating effect of three components of health literacy (feeling supported by health care providers, ability to find health information, and active engagement with health care providers) and psychological resilience on the relationship between mental illness and well-being. Mental illness symptoms were negatively associated with well-being, whereas psychological resilience, active engagement with health care, and health care provider support (ß res = .65, ß eng = .28, and ß sup = .25) had positive significant relationships with the outcome (all p ≤ .001). Ability to find health information (p = .25) and psychological resilience (p = .43) were not significantly associated with well-being. Of the four interactions tested, health literacy relating to health care worker support was the only significant moderator between mental illness and well-being (ß sup = .03). This study identified that meaningful support and understanding from health care providers for Australian men aged between 18 and 60 years may somewhat ameliorate the impact of mental illness on well-being. Further related investigation may reveal specific interventions that improve perceptions of support among men.

Understanding the relationship between absence constraints and presenteeism among nurses and midwives: Does social support matter?

BACKGROUND: The substitution hypothesis identifies absence constraints such as job and organizational demands as key precursors of presenteeism (attending work while ill). However, the relationship between absence constraints and presenteeism might be more complex than traditionally assumed (i.e., curvilinear). Moreover, it also remains unclear whether and how effective social support is in buffering these relationships. PURPOSE: This study investigates whether the relationship between key absence constraints (i.e., attendance enforcement and work overload) and presenteeism follows a U-shaped curvilinear pattern and whether support mechanisms (i.e., colleague and manager support) moderate the absence constraints-presenteeism relationship. METHODOLOGY: To answer these questions, we employed binary logistic regression analysis on survey data from a large and representative sample of nurses and midwives from Ireland ( N = 1,037). RESULTS: The relationship between absence constraints and presenteeism is dependent on the type of absence constraint, with attendance enforcement demonstrating a curvilinear relationship and work overload demonstrating a linear relationship. Contrary to expectations, social support had limited impact on this relationship and acted as a "constraint in disguise" in the case of manager support and had no impact in the case of colleague support. CONCLUSION: Our study challenges the basic tenets of the substitution hypothesis of presenteeism, particularly the idea that eliminating absence constraints always reduces the likelihood of presenteeism among nurses and midwives. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Increasing support to reduce presenteeism is unlikely to be effective in controlling presenteeism among nurses and midwives. Hospitals would be better served by directly targeting the absence constraints of such presenteeism behavior.

Safety climate and culture: Integrating psychological and systems perspectives.

Safety climate research has reached a mature stage of development, with a number of meta-analyses demonstrating the link between safety climate and safety outcomes. More recently, there has been interest from systems theorists in integrating the concept of safety culture and to a lesser extent, safety climate into systems-based models of organizational safety. Such models represent a theoretical and practical development of the safety climate concept by positioning climate as part of a dynamic work system in which perceptions of safety act to constrain and shape employee behavior. We propose safety climate and safety culture constitute part of the enabling capitals through which organizations build safety capability. We discuss how organizations can deploy different configurations of enabling capital to exert control over work systems and maintain safe and productive performance. We outline 4 key strategies through which organizations to reconcile the system control problems of promotion versus prevention, and stability versus flexibility. (PsycINFO Database Record