Mentoring relationships of New Zealand nurses: an empirical study (Part 1)

A national, random, postal survey (n = 298) of mentoring behaviour among New Zealand nurses was undertaken. The initial research problem was to seek an explanation for the apparent lack of mentoring in New Zealand nursing. However, as the study evolved the lack of agreement concerning the definition of mentoring became a major research obstacle. A new conceptual framework of mentoring grounded in the work of Kathy Kram (1985) was devised. A quantitative global measure of mentoring behaviour (the TMS score) was used to measure levels of mentoring behaviour. This score was used as the dependent variable in subsequent statistical tests of: the definitional hypothesis-the study's validity check; the peer mentoring hypothesis which explored selected dynamics of mentor protégé relationships, and four allied research questions. The conceptual framework and approach are discussed in part one.     

The relationship between voluntary employer changes and perceived job stress in Taiwan.

Although the career strategy of voluntary employer changes has been recognized, it remains unclear whether those adopting such a strategy pay a price of higher job stress or experience a benefit of lower job stress. Two competing hypotheses of the relationship between voluntary employer changes and perceived job stress were proposed. Data from a survey of master's of business administration degree holders in Taiwan supported the hypothesis of a negative relationship. Those with more voluntary employer changes perceive lower job stress. This finding expands the knowledge of the link between behavioral characteristics and job stress. The situations for this finding are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job stress and job performance controversy revisited: An empirical examination in two countries.

This study examined the relationship between the measures of job stress and job performance among employees working in a large North American-based multinational corporation in Malaysia (N = 305) and Pakistan (N = 325). Data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire from employees on job stress and turnover intention. Job performance and absenteeism data were obtained from the company's records. In both countries, data were more supportive of the negative linear relationship between stress and performance than other types of relationships. Overall, 90% of comparisons supported the negative linear relationship, whereas a u-shaped/curvilinear relationship was supported in 10% of instances. Implications of the findings are discussed for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Favorable self-perception, perceived supervisory style, and job satisfaction.

Compared interrelationships of favorable self-perception as measured by biographical data, perceived supervisory style of the boss, and job satisfaction of 128 administrators and professional employees of a state department of public instruction. All ss were given the administrative attitude questionnaire and the biographical information blank. Data indicate that ss with a high level of favorable self-perception were less likely to perceive the supervisory style of their boss as supportive and reported lower levels of job satisfaction than those with a low level of favorable self-perception. More supportive styles of supervision were found to be associated with higher levels of job satisfaction, although the effect was moderated by favorable self-perception. Results are discussed in terms of the relationship between expectations, experience, and attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships of perceived job design characteristics to job ability requirements and job value.

The relationships between perceived job design characteristics and both job ability requirements and job value were examined for 256 employees of a large pharmaceutical firm. Measures included the Position Analysis Questionnaire, Job Diagnostic Survey, and General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB). Correlational analyses revealed significant relationships between the perceived job characteristics scores and estimated GATB scores and between the job design scores and the job evaluation estimates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Should negative affectivity remain an unmeasured variable in the study of job stress?

We predicted that the dispositional construct negative affectivity (NA) would be related to self-report measures of job stress and job strain and that observed relationships between these stress and strain measures would be inflated considerably by NA. Results of a study of 497 managers and professionals were largely consistent with those expectations. Thus, we discuss implications for NA as both a methodological nuisance and a substantive cause of stressful work events, and conclude that NA should no longer remain an unmeasured variable in the study of job stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Positive and negative daily events, perceived stress, and alcohol use: A diary study.

Using daily diary methodology, the authors examined over 60 days the within-person associations among positive and negative daily experiences, perceptions of stress, desire to drink, and alcohol consumption in a sample of 83 regular drinkers. Multilevel regression analyses indicated that days on which individuals reported more positive and negative nonwork events were also days they reported higher levels of desire to drink and actual consumption. Days on which individuals reported more negative work events were also days they reported a greater desire to drink, and days on which individuals reported more positive and negative health events were also days they reported lower levels of desire to drink and actual consumption. Weak evidence was found for the mediating effects of perceived stress in these associations. Several of the within-person associations varied as a function of gender, neuroticism, and drinking to cope; no moderating effects were found for extraversion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Managing HIV at the workplace: An empirical study of HIV and HR managers in Singapore.

Drawing from previous research on individual differences, AIDS, and concerns for face, the author developed and tested a model examining the predictors (knowledge of AIDS transmission, level of homophobia, and concern for face) of AIDS fear and its organizational outcomes (perceived organizational consequences of hiring people living with HIV and attitudes toward disclosure of HIV-related information at the workplace). Data were collected using mail survey. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships among these variables for 160 human resource managers. All of the hypothesized relationships were empirically supported. Implications of the research findings for human resource practices are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job stress in midlife working women: Relationships among personality type, job characteristics, and job tension.

Investigated the relationships among midlife working women's Type A (coronary prone) personality, perceived job characteristics, and feelings of job tension. The Women's Work Questionnaire was administered to 161 35–55 yr old females who were employed by a large state social service agency. The questionnaire, developed for the present study, comprises sections for demographic and job-related information, the Sales Type A Personality Index—Short Form, the Job Characteristics Inventory, and the Job-Related Tension Index. Multiple regression analyses revealed a significant relationship between job tension and a linear combination of Type A personality and job characteristics (i.e., autonomy, feedback, significance, friendship opportunities, variety, challenge, identity, dealing with others). There were also significant relationships between job tension and the following variables considered singularly: Type A personality, autonomy, feedback, significance, and friendship opportunities. Results support a person–environment fit approach to the study, prevention, and remediation of job stress. (80 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Safety behavior: Job demands, job resources, and perceived management commitment to safety.

The job demands-resources model posits that job demands and resources influence outcomes through job strain and work engagement processes. We test whether the model can be extended to effort-related “routine” safety violations and “situational” safety violations provoked by the organization. In addition we test more directly the involvement of job strain than previous studies which have used burnout measures. Structural equation modeling provided, for the first time, evidence of predicted relationships between job strain and “routine” violations and work engagement with “routine” and “situational” violations, thereby supporting the extension of the job demands-resources model to safety behaviors. In addition our results showed that a key safety-specific construct 'perceived management commitment to safety' added to the explanatory power of the job demands-resources model. A predicted path from job resources to perceived management commitment to safety was highly significant, supporting the view that job resources can influence safety behavior through both general motivational involvement in work (work engagement) and through safety-specific processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects on teachers' self-efficacy and job satisfaction: Teacher gender, years of experience, and job stress.

The authors of this study sought to examine the relationships among teachers' years of experience, teacher characteristics (gender and teaching level), three domains of self-efficacy (instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement), two types of job stress (workload and classroom stress), and job satisfaction with a sample of 1,430 practicing teachers using factor analysis, item response modeling, systems of equations, and a structural equation model. Teachers' years of experience showed nonlinear relationships with all three self-efficacy factors, increasing from early career to mid-career and then falling afterwards. Female teachers had greater workload stress, greater classroom stress from student behaviors, and lower classroom management self-efficacy. Teachers with greater workload stress had greater classroom management self-efficacy, whereas teachers with greater classroom stress had lower self-efficacy and lower job satisfaction. Those teaching young children (in elementary grades and kindergarten) had higher levels of self-efficacy for classroom management and student engagement. Lastly, teachers with greater classroom management self-efficacy or greater instructional strategies self-efficacy had greater job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental health and psychic structure: an empirical study

Psychodynamic clinicians cite psychic structure and structural changes observed in treatment as sources of important information about unconscious psychological processes and configurations. Empirical studies have had difficulty demonstrating that psychic structure measures something different from psychiatric symptoms and everyday functioning. This study examined the relationship between psychic structure and mental health using the Health-Sickness Rating Scale (HSRS) to measure mental health and two different measures to assess psychic structure: Kernberg's personality organization (PO) and Wallerstein's Scales of Psychological Capacities (PSYCAP). Bivariate correlations and multiple regression analyses were computed based on ratings for 124 psychiatric inpatients and psychotherapy clients. Correlations showed that mental health and psychic structure are substantially interrelated, and multiple regression analyses indicated that 44% of the variance of HSRS is explained by psychic structure measured with the two methods taken together. The findings provide some support for a general factor of mental health and psychic structure and a "pure" component of psychic structure that is independent from mental health. Different factor-analytic models for understanding the relationship between mental health and psychic structure are discussed.     

Age, sex, marital status and suicide: an empirical study of east and west

The relationships among age, sex, marital status and suicidal behaviour in Australia and Hong Kong showed disparity in age-specific suicide rates among the four marital status groups, never married, married, widowed and divorced, for both sexes in the two locations. Examining the coefficients of preservation suggested the coefficient for never married to married in all cases was larger than 1, except for the groups of teenagers aged 15-19 years for both sexes and of elderly women aged 60 years or over in Hong Kong. The widowed or divorced groups have lower suicide rates than the married women among the elderly in Hong Kong. Hong Kong women seem not to have been benefited in marriage as much as men. Responsibility and workload in married life rather than low social status are the likely reasons for the relative high female suicide rate in Hong Kong. Possible cultural and environmental factors which are somewhat speculative (yet to be confirmed) are discussed.     

The impact of a grief workshop for pediatric oncology nurses on their grief and perceived stress

Coping with the death of a pediatric patient with whom the nurses has developed a close relationship is reported by nurses as the most stressful experience of being a pediatric nurse. Such losses are inevitable for a pediatric nurse regardless of subspecialty and can contribute to a nurse leaving the specialty or the discipline. To prevent those consequences, nurses' grief needs to be acknowledged, and their grieving needs to be facilitated. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a grief workshop on grief symptoms and perceived stress in two groups of pediatric oncology nurses who differed in years of experience in the specialty. Study findings indicated that the workshop affected the two groups differently, with the more experienced nurses reporting significantly higher stress levels after the workshop than did the less experienced nurses. Study findings are interpreted and recommendations for future work are offered.     

The acquisition of psychotherapeutic skill: an empirical study

The acquisition of psychotherapy skillfulness is an important aspect of training programs in psychiatry and clinical psychology. Psychotherapy supervision is employed to teach and monitor the development of these clinical skills. The Supervisor Report (SR) is a questionnaire designed to systematically assess therapeutic behaviors and global psychotherapeutic skillfulness of therapists conducting psychodynamic psychotherapy. SRs were employed to examine changes in trainees' skillfulness over the course of training. T-tests were applied to evaluate differences between the average scores of trainees in the first half of their training compared to the last half of their training. Comparisons of the scores for Psychotherapeutic Techniques and assessments of Global Skillfulness were in the predicted direction: Trainees in the advanced portion of their training were rated as more skillful than at the beginning. This study provides some evidence that psychotherapy skillfulness is acquired over time in training.     

The clinical skills of community psychiatric nurses working with patients who have severe and enduring mental health problems: an empirical analysis

Both cis-[Pt(NH3)2(4-Me-Py)Cl]+ and trans-[Pt(NH3)2(4-Me-Py)Cl]+ bind DNA covalently at the N7 site of guanine residues forming mono-dentate adducts. However, like cisplatin and transplatin, only the cis isomer has anti-cancer activity, whereas the trans-isomer does not. In order to understand the molecular basis of the different activities associated with cis-[Pt(NH3)2(4-Me-Py)Cl]+ and trans-[Pt(NH3)2(4-Me-Py)Cl]+, the interactions of these two platinum compounds with the DNA heptamer CCTG*TCC:GGACAGG duplex (G* is the platinated guanine) have been examined. The reaction rate of cis-[Pt(NH3)2(4-Me-Py)Cl]+ with the single-stranded CCTGTCC is significantly faster than that of the trans isomer. The solution structure of the platinum-DNA adducts has been studied by two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy. Both the cis-platinum adducts and the trans-platinum adducts destabilize the DNA duplex significantly. The melting temperature (Tm) of the platinated heptamer duplex is estimated to be 10 degrees C lower than for the unplatinated duplex by NMR. At 2 degrees C, the base pairs located on the 5' side of the oligonucleotide, beyond the platinum lesion site, are disrupted. Over time, the platinum-DNA complex decomposes and the cis-[Pt(NH3)2(4-Me-Py)] platinum complex is gradually detached from DNA. No interstrand crosslinking is observed. The biological implications of the structural studies are discussed.     

Genital ulcer disease in patients attending a public sexually transmitted disease clinic in Singapore: an epidemiologic study

Genital ulcer disease forms about 10% of all sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in Singapore. In this retrospective study of 531 cases of genital ulcer disease presenting at the Department of STD Control, 91.6% were due to venereal causes and 8.4% were due to non-venereal causes. The venereal causes of genital ulcers were found to be genital herpes (71.5%), chancroid (15.8%), primary syphilis (3.4%) and lymphogranuloma venereum (1%). The non-venereal causes were mainly trauma, drug eruptions or were non-specific in nature. The peak incidence in both sexes occurred in the 20-39 year age group. Males outnumbered females by a ratio of 5.8:1. The ethnic distribution showed an under-representation of Malays relative to the racial makeup of the general population, reflecting perhaps a protective effect conferred by circumcision from genital ulcer diseases or a lower health-risk sexual behaviour in this ethnic group. The accuracy of initial clinical diagnosis was low indicating the need for laboratory investigations to establish accurate aetiologic diagnosis. Commercial sex workers were the main source of infection in males, highlighting the continued need to educate, screen and effectively treat this high risk group.     

Theories of job stress and the role of traditional values: A longitudinal study in China.

This study examines how traditionality influences the relationships between job stressors and health. A sample of 496 Chinese employees provided longitudinal questionnaire data, and their health was assessed by collecting blood samples and monitoring blood pressure. The results indicated that the positive relationship between job control and health was stronger among the less traditional workers, whereas the positive relationship between distributive justice and health was stronger among the more traditional workers. Furthermore, traditionality moderated the interactive effects of job demands and perceived control/justice on health. Perceiving higher control mitigated the effects of job demands on upper respiratory infections among low traditionalists, but it exacerbated the effects among the high traditionalists. Perceptions of higher justice mitigated the effects of job demands on emotional exhaustion and immunoglobulin A for high traditionalists but not for low traditionalists. These results suggest that, in the relationship between job demands and psychological and physiological health, concern for equity is an important moderator for individuals with more traditional values, whereas perceived personal control is salutary for health primarily among people with less traditional values. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)