Nurses' work experiences 5 years after hospital merger in the province of Quebec/Canada-An exploratory qualitative study.

In recent years, healthcare organisations in North America have undergone major structural changes. In particular, the province of Quebec in Canada adopted a reform in 2015 which led to the merging of healthcare organisations into centralised regional administrations (the 'CISSS'). As research indicates negative impacts of mergers on patient outcomes and difficulties for the nursing work group in particular, the present paper aims to answer calls for more research about the long-term effects of major organisational changes on nurses' professional practice and well-being. We used an exploratory qualitative research design and report on data collected from 42 nursing professionals, ranging from clinical nurses, nurse practitioners, to head nurses and nursing advisors. Drawing on the job demands-resources model and the person-environment fit theory, our findings yield three main conclusions regarding the state of nursing practice 5 years after the 2015 reform: (1) emergence of a new demand for work harmonisation; (2) growing gaps in the nursing practice environment across departments; (3) evidence of a structural disempowerment of the nursing practice in healthcare organisations. There is hope that a vast project for practice harmonisation initiated and led by local senior nursing advisors will bring about positive outcomes for the nursing practice, and nurses' overall working conditions in the province.

Determinants of work-family balance satisfaction during the pandemic: Insights from Québec.

The first wave of the COVID pandemic was the most challenging for employed parents, and more specifically for women. In Québec, research has shown a deterioration in the psychological health of parents in the early weeks of the pandemic. In this research, we investigate how Québec parents who remained employed during the lockdown in 2020 perceived their work-family balance in the stressful context of new earning and caregiving constraints, drawing on survey data collected in May 2020. Our approach integrates insights from psychological, managerial and sociological literatures. We find that most parents who remained employed found their work-family balance "easy" in the first months of the pandemic, but women felt less satisfied with their work-family balance than men as well as those whose employers were less understanding and supportive, and those whose workloads increased. The implications of these results are discussed in the light of previous studies on work-family intersections, to show that gender continues to matter when family members are faced with extraordinary circumstances such as the closing of childcare and schools, even in the egalitarian context of Québec, where fathers are perceived as legitimate caregivers.

La première vague de la pandémie de COVID a été la plus difficile pour les employés avec des enfants, et plus particulièrement pour les femmes. Au Québec, la recherche a révélé une détérioration de la santé psychologique des parents au Québec dans les premières semaines de la pandémie. Dans cette recherche, nous examinons la manière dont les parents québécois demeurés en emploi pendant le confinement en 2020 ont perçu leur conciliation emploi-famille dans le contexte stressant de nouvelles contraintes en matière de revenus et de prestation de soins, en nous appuyant sur les données d'enquête recueillies en mai 2020. Notre approche intègre des notions issues de la littérature en gestion, en psychologie et en sociologie. Nos résultats montrent que la plupart des parents qui ont conservé leur emploi ont perçu leur conciliation emploi-famille comme étant « facile ¼ au cours des premiers mois de la pandémie, mais que les femmes se sont senties moins satisfaites de leur conciliation emploi-famille que les hommes, ainsi que ceux dont les employeurs ont été moins compréhensifs et moins coopératifs, et ceux dont la charge de travail a augmenté. Les implications de ces résultats sont discutées à la lumière d'études antérieures sur les intersections emploi-famille, pour montrer que le genre continue d'avoir de l'importance lorsque les membres de la famille sont confrontés à des circonstances extraordinaires telles que la fermeture des services de garde et des écoles, même dans le contexte égalitaire du Québec, où les pères sont perçus comme des dispensateurs de soins légitimes.

Towards a post-COVID geography of economic activity: Using probability spaces to decipher Montreal's changing workscapes.

In March 2020, many workers were suddenly forced to work from home. This brought into stark relief the fact that urban economic activity is no longer attached to specific workplaces. This detachment has been analysed in research on organisations and workers, but has not yet been incorporated into concepts used to document and plan the economic geography of cities. In this article, three questions are explored by way of an original survey: first, how can a shift in the location of economic activity be measured at the urban scale whilst incorporating the idea that work is not attached to a single location? Second, what is the nature of the shift that occurred in March 2020? Third, what does this tell us about concepts that have underpinned the study of urban economic form by geographers and planners? Applying concepts developed in organisation studies and sociology, we operationalise the idea that economic activity happens across multiple spaces: it occurs within a probability space, and since March 2020 it has shifted within this space. To better understand and interpret the longer-term impact of this shift on cities - downtowns in particular - we draw upon interviews with people working from home.

[Quality of life at work in Quebec, between realities and challenges]. / Qualité de vie au travail au Québec, entre réalités et défis.

Quality of life at work (QWL) is an issue of great importance, particularly in the health sector. In Quebec, organizations attach particular importance to this issue, which is reflected in specific human resources practices. This has led to some changes in terms of expectations, but also in terms of effects and issues, particularly with regard to the employer-employee relationship.

Partitioning of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons between water and particles compared to bioaccumulation in mussels: a harbour case.

Water and particles from three sites located in Halifax Harbour, near and further away from combined municipal sewage effluents (CMSE) were analysed for parental and alkylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (par and alkPAH). Bioavailability of PAH was compared for inter-tidal mussels collected at the same sites in April and November. The PAH fingerprint determined over 9 sampling times covering a period of 19 months differed more between phases (water and particles) and seasons, than between sites. In the spring, more alkPAH associated with diesel and gasoline were detected in the soluble phase, along with more bioaccumulation of alkPAH in inter-tidal mussels. A broader number of parPAH were detected in mussels collected in the fall. The mean sum of dissolved alkPAH concentrations was higher in water at the site closer to raw CMSE than at the other two sites and particles of that site. However, lowest bioconcentration factors (BCF) were determined in mussels of this more contaminated site. Similar biota-particle accumulation factors (BPAF) were determined for parPAH in mussels from the three sites, all lower than the BCF of alkPAH. The study indicates that sewage treatment plants will reduce the amount of parPAH especially larger than fluoranthene and pyrene from being deposited in the harbour; that alk naphthalenes and fluorenes present in water will continue to be discharged; that the disturbance of sediments can make particle-bound PAH available to mussels.

Comparability of total score performance on the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure and a modified Taylor Complex Figure.

One of the most commonly used neuropsychological measures of visuo-spatial abilities is the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF) Test. Previous research has reliably shown that its companion figure, the Taylor Complex Figure, is not a comparable measure of visuo-spatial memory. The aims of the three studies presented here are to (a) introduce a modified version of the Taylor Figure (MTCF), and (b) examine the comparability of the ROCF and the MTCF using two different administration procedures. The first two studies used a between-subjects design in which half of the study participants received the ROCF and half received the MTCF. In Study 1, an incidental procedure was used in which participants were asked to first copy a figure and then reproduce it from memory without prior warning. In Study 2, an intentional procedure was used in which participants were first asked to observe the figures for the express purpose of reproducing them from memory followed by delay and copy trials. In Study 3, a within-subjects design using counterbalancing and an intentional procedure was used to examine the comparability of the two figures when administered to the same participants as in a true test-retest situation. Overall, the studies demonstrated that learning, memory, and copy score performance on the MTCF was comparable to that on the ROCF.