Nursing home resident quality of life: testing for measurement equivalence across resident, family, and staff perspectives.

PURPOSE: This study explores the factor structure of the interRAI self-report nursing home quality of life survey and develops a measure that will allow researchers to compare predictors of quality of life (QOL) across resident, family, and staff perspectives. METHODS: Nursing home residents (N = 319), family members (N = 397), and staff (N = 862) were surveyed about their perceptions of resident QOL. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted on a random half of the staff data. Subsequently, confirmatory factor analysis was used to test for measurement equivalence across the three perspectives. RESULTS: The final model had a four-factor structure (i.e., care and support, food, autonomy, and activities) across all three perspectives. Each factor had at least two items that were equivalent across all three perspectives, which suggests at least partial measurement equivalence. CONCLUSION: The finding of partial measurement equivalence acknowledges there are important differences between perspectives and provides a tool that researchers can use to compare predictors of QOL, but not levels of agreement across perspectives. Targeting these four aspects is likely to have the additional benefit of improving family and staff perceptions of resident QOL in addition to the resident's own QOL.

Applying justice and commitment constructs to patient-health care provider relationships.

OBJECTIVE: To examine patients' experiences of fairness and commitment in the health care context with an emphasis on primary care providers. DESIGN: Qualitative, semistructured, individual interviews were used to gather evidence for the justice and commitment frameworks across a variety of settings with an emphasis on primary care relationships. SETTING: Rural, urban, and semiurban communities in Nova Scotia. PARTICIPANTS: Patients (ages ranged from 19 to 80 years) with varying health care needs and views on their health care providers. METHODS: Participants were recruited through a variety of means, including posters in practice settings and communication with administrative staff in clinics. Individual interviews were conducted and were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. A modified grounded theory approach was used to interpret the data. MAIN FINDINGS: Current conceptualizations of justice (distributive, procedural, interpersonal, informational) and commitment (affective, normative, continuance) capture important elements of patient-health care provider interactions and relationships. CONCLUSION: Justice and commitment frameworks developed in other contexts encompass important dimensions of the patient-health care provider relationship with some exceptions. For example, commonly understood subcomponents of justice (eg, procedural consistency) might require modification to apply fully to patient-health care provider relationships. Moreover, the results suggest that factors outside the patient-health care provider dyad (eg, familial connections) might also influence the patient's commitment to his or her health care provider.

Parents' work injuries and children's mental health: The moderating role of children's work centrality.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between parents' work-related injuries and their children's mental health, and whether children's work centrality - the extent to which a child believes work will play an important part in their life - exacerbates or buffers this relationship. METHOD: We argue that high work centrality can exacerbate the relationship between parental work injuries and children's mental health, with parental work injuries acting as identity-threatening stressors; in contrast, high work centrality may buffer this relationship, with parental work injuries acting as identity-confirming stressors. We test this relationship with a sample of Canadian children (N = 4,884, 46.2% female, M age = 13.67 years). RESULTS: Children whose parents had experienced more frequent lost-time work-related injuries reported worse mental health with high work centrality buffering this negative relationship. CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights the vicarious effects of work injuries on salient others, specifically parental work injuries on children's mental health, as well as the role of work centrality in shaping children's sense-making and expectations about the consequences of work.

The C.A.R.E. model of employee bereavement support.

Virtually every employee will experience bereavement and grief at some point in their careers, but organizations are often ill-prepared to support grieving employees. Little empirical work has been conducted on the experience of grief in the workplace, and this study answers calls for research on the subject. We interviewed bereaved employees (N = 14) who continued to work full-time. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis conducted by three independent coders. The results suggested four key themes that characterized effective bereavement support in the workplace and that together comprise the C.A.R.E. model of bereavement support-vis: (1) communication, (2) accommodation, (3) recognition of the loss, and (4) emotional support. The results provide insight into critical ways that employers, leaders, and coworkers can support grieving employees. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

With a little help from my boss: The impact of workplace mental health training on leader behaviors and employee resource utilization.

Mental health problems are among the costliest issues facing organizations in the developed world. In response to the mounting burdens surrounding poor employee mental health, many organizations have introduced mental health promotion programs and resources (e.g., employee assistance programs). Despite the rise in available options, very few employees use these resources to their full potential. Using a wait-list control design with random assignment, we evaluate the impact of a leader-focused mental health training on employees' (N = 82; 51.25% response rate) resource use and leaders' (N = 37; 56.92% response rate) communication about mental health and mental health resources. Based on other-report data from employees, leaders who received training shared more information about mental health and mental health resources, were more supportive of employees' mental health issues, and actively encouraged employees to use available resources. Employees whose leaders attended the training also reported increased willingness to seek out and use available resources. For leaders who attend training and complete three waves of data collection, results suggest that a 3-hr mental health training may lead to significant behavioral change up to 3 months posttraining. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Third-party support for strike action.

Labor strikes are often seen as battles for public support. Members of the public are asked to show respect for a strike by refusing to cross the picket line or by joining strikers on the picket line. Such public support may affect the morale of strikers and influence the strike's duration. Despite the perceived importance of the public in labor disputes, members of third parties have not been considered in previous strike research. In 2 studies, the authors show that a new measure of third-party strike support is unidimensional and highly reliable. In both cases, union attitudes and perceptions of distributive justice were significant predictors of support for strike action. Those who are more supportive of unions in general and believe that the contract offered to the strikers was unfair were more likely to support the strike by engaging in such actions as conversing with strikers, writing letters, and refusing to cross the picket line.

Development and Validation of the LEADS Scale.

LEADS in a Caring Environment has been adopted as the primary leadership framework by the Canadian Health Leadership Network. This study developed and validated a 20-item behaviourally anchored rating scale to assess the twenty LEADS capabilities. Canadian healthcare employees and support staff (N = 156) were asked to rate their managers using the scale and also completed measures of transformational leadership, job-related affective well-being, and intent to stay for validation purposes. Exploratory factor analysis suggested that the scale was best represented by a single factor structure. A shorter five-item scale was also developed and tested based on factor loadings. Internal consistency of both tools was high (α ≥ 0.96) and results supported their criterion validity for predicting turnover intentions and job-related affective well-being and convergent validity with a measure of transformational leadership.

Transformational leadership and psychological well-being: the mediating role of meaningful work.

Two studies investigated the relationship between transformational leadership, the meaning that individuals ascribe to their work, and their psychological well-being. In Study 1, the perceptions of meaningful work partially mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and positive affective well-being in a sample of Canadian health care workers (N=319). In Study 2, the meaning that a separate sample of service workers (N=146) ascribed to their work fully mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and psychological well-being, after controlling for humanistic work beliefs. Overall, these results support and add to the range of positive mental health effects associated with transformational leadership and are suggestive of interventions that organizations can make to improve well-being of workers.

Injunctive safety norms, young worker risk-taking behaviors, and workplace injuries.

Injunctive safety norms (ISNs) refer to perceptions of others' expectations of one's safety-related conduct. Drawing on a sample of Canadian young workers (n=11,986;M age=17.90years; 55% males), we study the relationships among four sources of non-work-related (i.e., parents, siblings, friends, teachers), two sources of work-related (i.e., supervisors, co-workers) ISNs, young workers' self-reported work-related risk-taking behaviors, and workplace injuries. Structural equation modeling suggests that ISNs from parents, supervisors, and co-workers were related to less frequent work-related risk-taking behaviors, and with fewer workplace injuries via less frequent work-related risk-taking behaviors. In addition, ISNs from supervisors were directly associated with fewer workplace injuries. In contrast, ISNs from teachers and siblings were not associated with work-related risk-taking behaviors, but ISNs from siblings were associated with fewer work injuries. Finally, ISNs from friends were associated with more frequent work-related risk-taking and more frequent work injuries via more frequent work-related risk-taking. This study draws attention to the relative roles of non-work sources of social influence and provides some evidence of how ISNs might be related to young workers' work-related risk-taking behaviors and their workplace injuries. It also contributes to practice by suggesting specific interventions that parents, supervisors, and co-workers could undertake to reduce young workers' work-related risk-taking and workplace injuries, namely encouraging youth to be safe at work.

Divergent effects of transformational and passive leadership on employee safety.

The authors concurrently examined the impact of safety-specific transformational leadership and safety-specific passive leadership on safety outcomes. First, the authors demonstrated via confirmatory factor analysis that safety-specific transformational leadership and safety-specific passive leadership are empirically distinct constructs. Second, using hierarchical regression, the authors illustrated, contrary to a stated corollary of transformational leadership theory (B. M. Bass, 1997), that passive leadership contributes incrementally to the prediction of organizationally relevant outcomes, in this case safety-related variables, beyond transformational leadership alone. Third, further analyses via structural equation modeling showed that both transformational and passive leadership have opposite effects on safety climate and safety consciousness, and these variables, in turn, predict safety events and injuries. Implications for research and application are discussed.

Third-party attitudes and strain reactions to the threat of a labor strike.

The authors examined how dispute-related stressors predicted strain experienced by third parties (N = 270) and their perceptions of a potential strike by part-time faculty. Immediately preceding a strike deadline, the authors surveyed students on their support for the union, perceived fairness, perceived effects of the impending strike, and perceived control. The authors also measured perceptions regarding information about the strike and psychological strain. Students facing increased disruptions because of the potential strike had decreased perceived control over their own tasks and over the university policies, and they experienced higher strain. Having more information about the dispute was associated with increased perceived task and policy control but was unassociated with strain. Both task and policy control moderated the relationship between disruptions and strain.

What happens at work stays at work? Workplace supervisory social interactions and blood pressure outcomes.

We investigated the relationship between workplace supervisory social interactions and blood pressure outcomes using hourly diary entries and ambulatory blood pressure data from an experience sampling study of 55 long-term care employees. After accounting for relevant cardiovascular controls, significant effects of supervisory interactions on cardiovascular reactivity and recovery were found. Multilevel analyses revealed that negatively perceived supervisory interactions predicted higher systolic blood pressure at work (B = -1.59, p < .05, N observations = 422). Using time-lagged hierarchical regression analyses, the average perceived valence of supervisory interactions at work predicted average systolic blood pressure recovery after work (B = -14.52, p < .05, N = 33). Specifically, negatively perceived supervisory interactions at work predicted poorer cardiovascular recovery after work. Suggestions for improving practices in organizations and in experience sampling research are discussed.

The Physical Health Questionnaire (PHQ): construct validation of a self-report scale of somatic symptoms.

The authors report the results of 3 studies that were conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Physical Health Questionnaire (PHQ), a brief self-report scale of somatic symptoms. In Study 1, exploratory factor analysis results revealed 4 empirically distinct dimensions of somatic symptoms: gastrointestinal problems, headaches, sleep disturbances, and respiratory illness. In Study 2, this structure was replicated using confirmatory factor analysis, and correlations of the PHQ dimensions with measures of negative affect, psychological health, and job performance provided further validity evidence. In Study 3, a minor revision to the wording of several items helped to address the limitations of one of the PHQ subscales. Together, these results provide evidence of the construct validity of the PHQ.

Prevalence and demographic differences in microaccidents and safety behaviors among young workers in Canada.

INTRODUCTION: The present study examines the self-reported frequency of non-lost work time workplace injuries ("microaccidents") and the frequency of three types of work-related safety behaviors (i.e., safety voice, safety compliance, and safety neglect) recalled over a four-week period. METHOD: We analyzed data on microaccidents and safety behaviors from 19,547 young workers (aged 15-25years, Mdn=18years; 55% male) from multiple Canadian provinces. RESULTS: Approximately one-third of all young workers recalled experiencing at least one microaccident at work in the last four weeks. Comparisons across three age groups revealed that younger workers, particularly between the ages of 15-18, reported more frequent microaccidents, less safety voice, less safety compliance, and more safety neglect than workers aged 19-22. This pattern of results also held for comparisons between workers in 19-22 and 23-25 age groups, except for safety voice which did not differ between these two older age groups. In terms of gender, males and females reported the same frequency of microaccidents, but males reported more safety voice, more safety compliance, and more safety neglect than females did. The results and limitations of the present study are discussed. CONCLUSION: Frequency of microaccidents and safety behavior vary among young worker age sub-groups.

Predictors and outcomes of workplace violence and aggression.

The authors developed and assessed the psychometric properties of an instrument measuring risk for workplace violence and expanded a model linking (a) risk and experience of violence and aggression from the public and (b) experience of aggression from coworkers to emotional well-being, psychosomatic well-being, affective commitment, and turnover intentions. Using data from 254 employees representing 71 different occupations, the measure demonstrated acceptable within-occupation and 1-month test-retest reliability. The data supported the model and showed that public-initiated violence and aggression and coworker-initiated aggression were differentially associated with personal and organizational outcomes.

High-quality work, job satisfaction, and occupational injuries.

The authors investigated whether and how 1 element of a high-performance work system, namely high-quality jobs (composed of extensive training, variety, and autonomy), affects occupational injuries. On the basis of data from the Australian WIRS95 database (N = 16,466; Department of Workplace Relations and Small Business, 1997), high-quality jobs exerted a direct effect on injuries and an indirect effect through the mediating influence of job satisfaction. Conceptual, methodological, and practical issues are discussed.

Development and test of a model linking safety-specific transformational leadership and occupational safety.

The authors developed, tested, and replicated a model in which safety-specific transformational leadership predicted occupational injuries in 2 separate studies. Data from 174 restaurant workers (M age = 26.75 years, range = 15-64) were analyzed using structural equation modeling (LISREL 8; K. G. Jöreskog & D. Sörbom, 1993) and provided strong support for a model whereby safety-specific transformational leadership predicted occupational injuries through the effects of perceived safety climate, safety consciousness, and safety-related events. Study 2 replicated and extended this model with data from 164 young workers from diverse jobs (M age = 19.54 years, range = 14-24). Safety-specific transformational leadership and role overload were related to occupational injuries through the effects of perceived safety climate, safety consciousness, and safety-related events.

The relationship between response rate and effect size in occupational health psychology research.

This study investigated the relationship between response rate and effect size in self-report survey research. The correlation between response rate and effect size was calculated for 4 variable combinations, and the results were combined using meta-analytic procedures. The correlation of response rate and effect size was not significant for any individual sample. The average correlation between response rate and effect size was -.15, with a nonsignificant corrected variance across studies of .02. These results suggest only a small relationship between the response rate of a survey and the reported effect size between variables.

Accidental outcomes: attitudinal consequences of workplace injuries.

A model of the attitudinal outcomes of the occurrence and severity of occupational injuries was developed and tested. The model postulates that workplace accidents result in a perceived lack of influence and a distrust of management, with the former also affecting the distrust of management. Both are hypothesized to predict job dissatisfaction. Exit (turnover intentions) and voice (perceptions of union instrumentality) are hypothesized as outcomes of job dissatisfaction. A sample of 9,908 employees was tested with the 1995 Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey database. Structural equation modeling provided strong support for the model with respect to accident occurrence, and the model was replicated across 8 different occupational groups. There was less support for the model with respect to accident severity.

Reducing the adverse consequences of workplace aggression and violence: the buffering effects of organizational support.

This study examined the buffering effects of 2 types of organizational support--instrumental and informational--on the relationships between workplace violence/aggression and both personal and organizational outcomes. Based on data from 225 employees in a health care setting, a series of moderated multiple regression analyses demonstrated that organizational support moderated the effects of physical violence, vicariously experienced violence, and psychological aggression on emotional well-being, somatic health, and job-related affect, but not on fear of future workplace violence and job neglect. These findings have implications for both research and intervention related to workplace violence.