Social support and psychosocial functioning in women after mastectomy.

OBJECTIVE: Social support has been reported as beneficial for the psychological functioning of people coping with a disease. The objective of this study was to verify whether levels of perceived social support are associated with psychosocial functioning in women who have had a mastectomy and whether specific types of social support are linked to specific indices of functioning. METHOD: Seventy women with a history of mastectomy completed questionnaires measuring their psychosocial functioning as related to their health status: Disease-Related Appraisal Scale, Acceptance of Life with the Disease Scale and Beck Depression Inventory. All participants also completed a measure of perceived social support (Disease-Related Social Support Scale). RESULTS: Women who reported higher levels of perceived social support revealed statistically significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms, higher appraisals of their disease in terms of challenge and value, and lower appraisals of their disease in terms of obstacle/loss. Women with greater social support also revealed higher levels of acceptance of life with the disease compared to those with less social support. Regression analyses showed that spiritual support was the type of support that significantly accounted for the variance in the majority of functioning indices. Some indices of functioning were also significantly accounted for by emotional and instrumental support. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESULTS: The process of psychological adjustment to a life-threatening disease such as breast cancer depends on multiple variables; however, social support, including spiritual support, seems to be one significant contributor to this process.

Authentic Leadership and Employees' Innovative Behaviour: A Multilevel Investigation in Three Countries.

The innovativeness of individual employees is a vital source of competitive advantage of firms, contributing to societal development. Therefore, the aim of this multilevel study was to examine how entrepreneurial firm owners' authentic leadership relates to their employees' innovative behaviour. Our conceptual model postulates that the relationship between business owners' authentic leadership (as perceived by their employees) and their employees' innovative behaviour is mediated by employees' personal initiative and their work engagement. Hypotheses derived from this model were tested on data collected from 711 employees working in 85 small firms from three European countries: the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. The results of the multilevel modelling confirmed our model, showing that when business owners are perceived as more authentic leaders, their employees show higher personal initiative and are more engaged at work and, in turn, identify more innovative solutions to be implemented in the organization. A cross-national difference was observed: employees from Spain (in comparison to Dutch and Polish employees) reported engaging less frequently in innovative behaviour. These research findings suggest that the innovative behaviour of employees can be boosted through leadership training, improving the quality of relationships between leaders and subordinates, and strengthening employees' personal initiative and work engagement.

[ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AND WORK ENGAGEMENT - THEORETICAL CONCEPTIONS AND TERMINOLOGICAL PROBLEMS]. / PRZYWIAZANIE DO ORGANIZACJI I ZAANGAZOWANIE W PRACE - KONCEPCJE TEORETYCZNE I PROBLEMY TERMINOLOGICZNE.

Engagement in professional activities and positive attitudes towards an organization are of significant importance to functioning and health of employees. Studies analysing the phenomena of employees' engagement and their relations with an organization undergo a dynamic development in both international and Polish research. Two theoretical conceptions: organizational commitment (by Meyer and Allen) and work engagement (by Schaufeli and Bakker) have become prominent in the field. They capture 2 similar, albeit distinct constructs. In English-language journals academics concentrate on theoretical and empirical analyses of similarities and differences between the 2 concepts, while in Polish publications scholars also have to deal with the issue of the original term translation. The problem lies mostly in Polish nomenclature of the dimensions proposed in both of these conceptions. Lack of common translations for different studies may cause confusion in this area of research. In the paper authors present a review of Polish translations of terms used in the discussed conceptions and a linguistic analysis of terms, both in English and in Polish. Authors provide solutions which could help to clarify terminology in Polish-language publications concerning organizational commitment and work engagement. This allows for further development of research in this field.