Expert evaluation of traffic signs: conventional vs. alternative designs.

Traffic sign comprehension is significantly affected by their compliance with ergonomics design principles. Despite the UN Convention, designs vary among countries. The goal of this study was to establish theoretical and methodological bases for evaluating the design of conventional and alternative signs. Thirty-one conventional signs and 1-3 alternatives for each conventional sign were evaluated for their compliance with three ergonomics guidelines for sign design: physical and conceptual compatibility, familiarity and standardisation. Twenty-seven human factors and ergonomics experts from 10 countries evaluated the signs relative to their compliance with the guidelines. Analysis of variance across alternatives revealed that for 19 of the 31 signs, an alternative design received a significantly higher rating in its ergonomics design than the conventional sign with the same meaning. We also found a very high correlation between the experts' ratings and comprehension from previous studies. In conclusion, many countries use signs for which better alternative designs exist, and therefore UN Convention signs should be re-examined, and ergonomics experts evaluation can serve as a good surrogate for road users' comprehension surveys. Practitioner summary: This study presents theoretical and methodological bases for evaluating the design of UN Conventional and alternative traffic signs. Human factors and ergonomics experts evaluated 31 conventional and 68 alternative road signs, based on ergonomics principles for sign design. Results indicated the need to re-examine poorly designed UN Convention signs.

Caregiving styles and anxiety among couples: coping versus not coping with cardiac illness.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: partners' caregiving efforts are not always beneficial to both recipient and provider. Bowlby's conceptualization of caregiving style as a stable predisposition may clarify such caregiving effects. The relationship between caregiving style (compulsive and sensitive) and anxiety among couples coping with cardiac illness and a matching control group not coping with cardiac illness were assessed. We hypothesized that one's compulsive caregiving would associate positively, and one's sensitive caregiving would associate negatively, with one's and one's partner's anxiety across contexts (cardiac and non-cardiac) and gender. DESIGN: A comparative design of 131 couples with a diagnosis of husbands' acute cardiac syndrome and 68 matched couples in the community was applied. METHODS: The Adult Caregiving Questionnaire and the Brief Symptoms Inventory were administered. RESULTS: Structural equation modeling revealed that one's compulsive caregiving was positively associated with one's anxiety, across most contexts. Multi-group analyses revealed that the associations between one's compulsive caregiving and one's partner's anxiety levels differed depending on gender and context. CONCLUSIONS: The distress which emerges in an individual who takes on a caregiving role and in his/her partner seems to result not only from the demands of the concrete caregiving situation but also from one's and one's partner's developmental history.

The contribution of role satisfaction, meaning in life and work-home conflict to explaining well-being among working grandparents.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to examine the relationship of satisfaction with occupied roles as well as the sense of meaning in life and experience of work-home conflict to well-being among working grandparents in Israel. DESIGN AND METHODS: The research sample consisted of 316 employed grandparents aged 50-80 (153 grandfathers and 163 grandmothers), who were employed in various types of organizations. Data were collected using structured questionnaires. Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. RESULTS: The research findings indicate that the sense of meaning in life mediated the relationship between role satisfaction and the two types of work-home conflict. A significant relationship was found between "work interferes with family" conflict and negative affect. Higher personal resources were associated with higher meaning in life. Gender was not related to the experience of work-home conflict or to any of the outcome variables. CONCLUSIONS: The centrality of meaning in life in the model that explains the experience of work-home conflict and its outcomes among working grandparents, derives from its mediating role in the relationship between the experience of role satisfaction and both types of role conflict, as well as from its direct impact on positive and negative affect.

Caregivers' burden and depressive symptoms: the moderational role of attachment orientations.

OBJECTIVE: The current study explored whether attachment orientations moderate the associations between caregiver burden and depressive symptoms among women coping with their partners' first time acute coronary syndrome. The association between burden and depression was hypothesized to be stronger among caregivers high on anxious attachment than among caregivers low on this dimension. In addition, the association between burden and depressive symptoms was hypothesized to be weaker among caregivers higher on avoidant attachment than among those lower on this dimension. METHOD: The sample consisted of 111 female caregivers of male patients admitted to the cardiac care unit of a hospital in Israel. Caregivers completed a measure of attachment orientations during patients' hospitalization (baseline). Caregiver burden was measured 1 month later. Depressive symptoms were measured at baseline and again at 6-month follow-up. Structural equation modeling was used to test the moderational models. RESULTS: The association between caregiver burden and depressive symptoms at follow-up was moderated by attachment-related anxiety but not attachment-related avoidance. Congruent with predictions, a stronger association between caregiver burden and depressive symptoms occurred for caregivers with greater (vs. lower) attachment anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: The findings shed light on the possible dynamics among attachment orientations and affect regulation when coping with one's partner's illness. The findings are discussed in light of Pietromonaco, Uchino, and Dunkel Schetter's (2013) model of integrating attachment into health psychology research.

Testing the concept of relational entitlement in the dyadic context: further validation and associations with relationship satisfaction.

The sense of relational entitlement is the perception one has of what one deserves from one's partner, and it may play a crucial role in determining the quality of a couple's relationship. However, the concept was only recently subjected to empirical examination. The main goals of the current study were to continue the work initiated by the scale developers (Tolmacz & Mikulincer, 2011) by (1) further validating the Sense of Relational Entitlement Scale (SRE) in a sample of adult couples; and (2) examining the contribution of each partner's sense of relational entitlement to his or her own and his or her partner's relationship satisfaction. A sample of 120 Israeli, heterosexual, older couples (age = 58 years) in long-term relationships completed the study measurements. Factor analyses revealed that the SRE scale consisted of two major dimensions: conflicted entitlement and assertive entitlement. Applying an Actor-Partner-Interdependence Model (APIM) analysis indicated that the more conflicted one felt with regard to what one was entitled to, the less satisfaction one felt with the relationship. Additionally, the higher one's entitlement expectations were of one's partner (a subfactor of the assertive entitlement dimension), the more one's partner was satisfied with the relationship. The sense of entitlement construct seems to be relevant to the context of dyadic relationships and, as such, is worthy of further attention and investigation.

Marital satisfaction and depression among couples following men's acute coronary syndrome: testing dyadic dynamics in a longitudinal design.

OBJECTIVES: The current study examined the contribution of marital satisfaction to symptoms of depression among patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and their partners. METHOD: The sample comprised of 91 ACS male patients and their female partners. Data were collected at the time of initial hospitalization and 6 months later. Patients' and partners' assessments of marital satisfaction were measured using the ENRICH scale. Symptoms of depression were measured using the Brief Symptoms Inventory (BSI). Dyadic analysis applying the Actor-Partner Inter-dependence Model (APIM) was used. RESULTS: Different patterns emerged for the two phases. In the acute phase, only the Actor effect was significant: for both patients and partners, one's greater marital satisfaction was associated with one's lower levels of depression. In the chronic phase, both Actor and Partner effects were significant, while different trends were found for patients and partners. Partners' marital satisfaction was associated with their own and the patients' decreased depression symptoms, whereas among patients, higher levels of marital satisfaction were associated with elevated levels of depression both for themselves and for their partners. CONCLUSIONS: A dyadic perspective and phases of illness have to be taken into account in understanding adjustment and developing interventions following ACS. STATEMENT OF CONTRIBUTION: What is already known on this subject? The contribution of marital satisfaction to psychological adjustment following cardiac illness has been explored, but mainly from the perspective of one partner only. Different phases of an illness present different challenges for both patients and family members. What does this study add? A dyadic perspective on recovery from cardiac illness. The partner's contribution during the different phases of the illness.