Frequency of voice problems among teachers and other occupations

This study describes the frequency of reporting vocal problems among a random sample of elementary and high school teachers (n = 554) compared to individuals working in other occupations (n = 220). Teachers were more likely to define themselves as ever having a voice problem (32% versus. 1%, p < .05); having a tired, weak, or effortful voice (p < .05 each); and having a higher frequency of symptoms of physical discomfort with speaking (p < .05). They also were more likely to perceive that their voice problem negatively affected current job performance (p < .05) and limited options regarding change in work (p < .05). About 20% of teachers but only 4% of nonteachers had missed work due to their voice. These findings suggest that teachers are at high-risk for disability from voice disorders and that this health problem may have significant work-related and economic effects.     

Frequency and risk factors for voice problems in teachers of singing and control subjects

Using a questionnaire format, 125 teachers of singing and 49 control subjects indicated whether they had a current or past voice problem, and provided information about their demographic characteristics, voice use patterns, and medication use. The results revealed similar rates of current voice problems reported by the two subject groups. However, teachers of singing were considerably more likely to report ever having had a voice problem than controls (64 vs. 33%). Risk factors were similar for the two groups. Dehydrating medications and a report of a past voice problem both increased the likelihood of perceiving a current problem, by a factor of three and five, respectively. Females were twice as likely to report a past voice problem as males, and younger subjects were slightly more likely to report a past problem as compared with older subjects. The implications of the findings are discussed from a theoretical as well as pragmatic perspective.     

Prevalence of renal disease in elderly hypertensive patients with cardiovascular problems

Renal vascular damage caused by arterial hypertension participates in the alterations to systemic vascular function and structure. Nephrosclerosis seems to run in parallel with systemic atherosclerosis, which accounts for the increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality seen in hypertensive patients. Parameters indicating the existence of an alteration in renal function (increased serum creatinine, proteinuria and microalbuminuria) are independent predictors for an increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Hence, parameters of renal function have to be considered in any stratification of cardiovascular risk in hypertensive patients.     

Classroom-related behavior problems: Counsel parents, teachers, or children?

Compared the effectiveness of group counseling with significant adults (parents or teachers) and of group counseling with elementary school children in reducing classroom behavior problems. Ss were 372 children of average socioeconomic backgrounds. Results of an analysis of variance following a 10-wk treatment period indicate that the indirect approach (Adlerian group counseling with significant adults) was more effective than the direct approach (eclectic group counseling with the children), regardless of grade level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aims, processes and problems of antenatal education as identified by three groups of childbirth teachers

OBJECTIVE: To establish whether variations exist in the philosophy and approach of three groups of childbirth teachers working in different organisations in the UK. PARTICIPANTS: Two midwifery Parentcraft Sisters working in the UK maternity services, three National Childbirth Trust Antenatal Teachers and two Active Birth Teachers working in the voluntary sector, and two Midwife Teachers. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed and analysed using a grounded theory approach to identify common categories. FINDINGS: All three groups of teachers identified similar aims for antenatal education, with the need to build clients' confidence in their ability to give birth and care for their babies as the most important. However, the process by which the various teachers attempted to realise their aims appeared to be very different. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: In order to ensure the prioritization of antenatal education with purchasers and providers, childbirth teachers need to define more clearly the criteria by which it can be audited.     

Shaping behavior in voice therapy

This study demonstrates the process of learning and shaping of behavior which occurs during a program of therapy for individuals with hyperfunctional hoarse voice quality. First a therapy program delineating the techniques and criteria to be used was written. The program was presented during 16 individual half-hour sessions over an eight-week period to three clients known to have vocal nodules. The clients' responses were charted at various points from audiotape recordings of each therapy session using a modification of the Boone-Prescott analysis system, to obtain data to demonstrate the learning processes. It was concluded that: (1) the client's behaviors in this vocal rehabilitation program reflected a learning process; (2) facilitating techniques were used to modify or shape behavior through successive approximations to the terminal goal; (3) self-evaluation is an important factor needed to bring about successful changes in behavior; (4) analysis of client's behaviors in relation to the learning process can aid in evaluating the effectiveness of the facilitating techniques; and (5) from such evaluation intraclient and interclient program changes are derived hopefully resulting in a greater success rate and maximum benefits from time spent in therapy.     

Speaking up in groups: A cross-level study of group voice climate and voice.

Despite a growing body of research on employee voice—defined as the discretionary communication of ideas, suggestions, or opinions intended to improve organizational or unit functioning—the effects of shared or collective-level cognitions have received scant attention. There has also been relatively little research on voice within work groups. Our goal in this study was to address these important gaps by focusing on the effects of group-level beliefs about voice (i.e., group voice climate) on individual voice behavior within work groups. We conducted a cross-level investigation of voice behavior within 42 groups of engineers from a large chemical company. Consistent with our hypotheses, group voice climate was highly predictive of voice and explained variance beyond the effects of individual-level identification and satisfaction, and procedural justice climate. Also consistent with predictions, the effect of identification on voice was stronger in groups with favorable voice climates. These findings provide evidence that voice is shaped not just by individual attitudes and perceptions of the work context, as past research has shown, but also by group-level beliefs. The results also highlight the importance of broadening our conceptual models of voice to include shared cognitions and of conducting additional cross-level research on voice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessment of student teachers by supervising teachers.

756 Australian student teachers were rated by supervising teachers on various criteria. Ratings were investigated in terms of reliability and factor structure. Regression analyses were used to determine which criteria supervisors emphasized. Results provide much confidence for the way in which supervising teachers rate student teachers. There was a tendency to use 2 major factors when rating: preparation and presentation. Differences were found between primary and secondary supervisors. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The lost voice of midwifery

The proposed review and amendments to the Nurses' Act in South Australia has caused intense debate in this state especially between nurses and midwives. On the one hand midwives claim that the new changes will affect their ability to deliver optimum care to the childbirthing woman and so affect their role as midwife. While on the other hand nurses counter claim that the proposed changes to the Act will not make any difference to midwifery care and cannot understand what all the fuss is about. Yet midwifery has never sat comfortably under the umbrella of nursing and this debate is not new. This paper takes a historical look at the professionalisation of nursing prior to the implementation of the original Nurses' Registration Act of South Australia in 1920. It explores the implications of this for the midwife of the time, highlighting the unresolved differences between these two professions that have contributed to the debate of today.     

No middle voice.

Discusses the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis, which maintains that nature be dissected along the lines laid down by native language. One characteristic of most modern languages is that subject–verb relationships can be expressed only in active (AVs) and passive voices (PVs). Modern languages might force people into dichotomous thinking patterns, since human action is couched primarily in one voice or the other. Throughout history, several languages have possessed middle voices (MVs) which allow for a more complex relationship between a subject and verb than can be expressed by either the AV or PV alone. English does not have a commonly used MV. This deficit might condition human thinking to possess bipolar (either-or) characteristics. Modern psychological theories of human agency help scientists, legal scholars, and philosophers to adapt thinking to better reflect the continuous characteristics of the world of human action. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conducting psychotherapy with psychotherapists: I. Prevalence, patients, and problems.

Examines responses from 349 psychologists of the American Psychological Association (APA) Division of Psychotherapy who completed a questionnaire regarding the prevalence of treating fellow psychotherapists, the type of psychotherapist-patients they treated, and the stressors and satisfactions of conducting such work. Three fourths of respondents related that they had treated mental health professionals and professionals-in-training over the past 3 years, and that this population constituted 3% to 796 of their caseloads. Nearly all of the therapist-patients were self-referred, and 85% received individual therapy. The psychotherapist-patients tended to be psychologists (37%) or social workers (29%) of diverse theoretical traditions, with the exception of biologically oriented clinicians. Satisfactions clustered around pleasures inherent in doing meaningful work, acknowledgment by peers, and the opportunity to help therapist-patients enhance their own clinical effectiveness. Predominant stressors concerned evaluation anxieties in treating colleagues and in the related belief that colleagues are more challenging and resistant to change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A question of voice in poetry and psychoanalysis

The author discusses the notion of voice as a contribution to the development of a set of ideas and an attendant vocabulary adequate for describing the richness and complexity of language usage in the analytic setting. In a discussion of the sounds, movement, and texture of voice in poems by Robert Frost and Wallace Stevens, the author illustrates ways in which a listener attempts to experience how a speaker creates a voice and brings himself to life through his use of language. The layering of sounds and feelings in voice is discussed in terms of the creation of "oversounds" derived from the experience of analyst and analysand in the jointly constructed unconscious "analytic third."     

Predicting voice behavior in work groups.

This field study of 441 full-time employees in 95 work groups examined voice behavior (constructive challenge to the status quo with the intent of improving the situation rather than merely criticizing) as a function of person-centered (satisfaction with the work group, global self-esteem) and situational factors (group size, self-managed vs. traditional style of management). Using a measure of voice with demonstrated construct validity, the study showed that these person and situation factors explained 10% of the variance in peer-rated voice assessed 6 mo later. Significant Person?×?Situation interactions suggested that individuals with low global self-esteem or high satisfaction with their group were more responsive to the situational factors than individuals with high global self-esteem or low satisfaction. The authors discuss the importance of including person-centered characteristics, situational factors, and their interactions as predictors of voice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acoustic voice analysis. On documentation of voice rehabilitation after laser surgery laryngeal carcinoma resection

Following curative minimal-invasive laser resection of T1-T3 laryngeal carcinomas, patients were subjected to an intensive voice rehabilitation. Therapy was effected twice a day for approximately 2 months, utilizing the concept of functional voice therapy. Before and after rehabilitation, acoustic analyses were made by using two different computer-supported measuring systems: (1) the "multidimensional voice program" (Kay Elementrics Corp.) and (2) a novel software program developed in G?ttingen that includes a new voice quality parameter based on correlations between frequency bands. Acoustic analyses showed superiority of the glottal versus supraglottal compensatory phonation. Findings showed that not all acoustic parameters equally documented voice improvement after rehabilitation. The standard deviation of fundamental frequency was the only parameter showing a significant post-therapeutic improvement. A further suitable acoustic method proved to be the voice quality parameter that has been newly introduced by us. In contrast to analogous parameters of other methods, this approach is independent of the exact periodicity of the glottal excitation function, thus permitting reliable results to be obtained even with aphonic or heavily dysphonic voices.