Minors' attitudes and competence toward participation in psychoeducational decisions.

27 7–23 yr olds, 33 14–25 yr olds, and 21 16–20 yr olds enrolled in a university-based day-school program for children with learning and related behavior problems were given a choice about participating in decisions about their subsequent placements. Ss were also offered instructions on how to prepare for participating in the decision process. Structured questions and ratings of observed behavior were used to measure Ss' current and subsequent interest in participation, perspective of competence to participate, interest in instruction to increase competence, expectations, actual participation, and judgments of outcome. Findings were similar to those found in a previous study by the present authors (see record 1984-16316-001). A high proportion of Ss wanted to participate, perceived themselves as competent to do so, knew what outcomes they wanted, followed through, and judged their involvement as effective. Most Ss were interested in improving skills related to such participation. Adults involved (6 teachers, 76 parents, and 4 school psychologists) rated the participation of Ss as effective. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A multiplant factor analysis of employees' attitudes toward their company.

Is an attitude questionnaire designed to measure a specific attitude unifactorial? If not, what is the nature of the factors? 735 mailed questionnaires, representing a 50% return, were analyzed. Although designed to measure one thing, attitude toward the company, it was found to contain a large general factor of general attitude or bias toward the company. 1 of the other 3 factors found was respect for personal rights; the 3rd was opportunity for self improvement. The factorial structure of employees' work attitudes may be more complex than previously thought. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A field study of employees' attitudes and behaviors after promotion decisions.

The impact of promotion decisions on equity, commitment, and behavioral outcomes was examined in a field setting. Workers in a service company who submitted their candidacy for promotion to either department or division heads were compared with their noncandidate counterparts (total N?=?191). Ss completed surveys after promotion decisions were made. In addition, measures of the Ss' lateness and absence before and after the promotion were available. Data analyzed by level of position (department vs division) and promotion decision (promoted, not promoted, and control) indicated that promotions resulting from self-initiated candidacies might actually produce undesirable outcomes. Failure to get a promotion was associated with feelings of inequity, a decrease in commitment, and an increase in absenteeism; positive promotion decisions increased commitment. Theoretical and organizational implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Employee attitudes toward technological change in a medium sized insurance company.

How do office workers react to office automation? "Questionnaires about technological change and the installation of a new electronic computer were administered to all of the employees of a medium sized insurance company." The validity of the questionnaires was not discussed. "Most of the employees welcomed changes in their work… . They believe that machines are replacing workers in office situations but do not feel that they themselves will be replaced. They do not perceive that the introduction of the new technologies has had much effect on the amount of pay they get, their chances for promotion, or the amount of supervision they receive. But they do believe that the new technologies have changed the amount of work that they do and the degree to which there is variety in their work." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patients' attitudes toward advance directives and end-of-life treatment decisions

Much of the patient education about advance directives described in the literature involves explaining the purpose of advance directives to patients and guiding them through the process of issuing a directive. However, well over half of the subjects in this study claimed to know enough about the directives to issue one, and almost all subjects expressed a preference for issuing directives when healthy. Although health care agencies that wish to adhere to the PSDA must continue to ask all patients if they have issued an advance directive, aggressive patient education programs that press hospitalized patients to consider issuing an advance directive may be perceived by patients as coercive and uncaring. Patient education may be more likely to achieve the goals of the PSDA if it is provided before hospitalization and if patients are encouraged to discuss their care preferences with family members who would be in a position to speak for them at the end of life. Further study of the few patients who choose to issue an advance directive would be informative. When and why they chose to issue the directive should be explored. Patients who report issuing an advance directive but do not provide their physician or hospital with a copy of the directive upon admission should also be studied to determine if this represents a desire not to activate the directive during the current admission or simply confusion about the disposition of this document. Finally, most studies of advance directives have been cross-sectional. Longitudinal study of patients who issue advance directives are needed to determine the effectiveness of these documents in influencing the end-of-life treatment that patients receive.     

Work attitudes and decisions as a function of manager age and employee age.

Research has shown the importance of employee age relative to coworker age in determining attitudes, performance, and career-related opportunities. The authors used chronological and subjective measures of employee and manager age to determine whether employee age relative to the manager has an impact on these same outcome variables. One hundred eighty-five managers and 290 employees completed surveys. The strongest and most consistent age effects were observed for interactions between employee and manager chronological age. Both the magnitude and pattern of the employee-manager age interactions varied by self- and manager-rated outcome measures of work attitudes, performance and promotability assessments, and developmental experiences. Results are discussed in light of the relational demography and career timetable literatures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational culture and climate and mental health provider attitudes toward evidence-based practice.

Mental health provider attitudes toward adopting evidence-based practice (EBP) are associated with organizational context and provider individual differences. Organizational culture and climate are contextual factors that can affect staff acceptance of innovation. This study examined the association of organizational culture and climate with attitudes toward adopting EBP. Participants were 301 public sector mental health service providers from 49 programs providing mental health services for youths and families. Correlation analyses and multilevel hierarchical regressions, controlling for effects of provider characteristics, showed that constructive culture was associated with more positive attitudes toward adoption of EBP and poor organizational climates with perceived divergence of usual practice and EBP. Behavioral health organizations may benefit from consideration of how culture and climate affect staff attitudes toward change in practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When medical group and HMO part company: disenrollment decisions in Medicare HMOs

Medicare beneficiaries who enroll in "risk contract" Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) are covered for services only if they are provided or approved by the HMO. Thus, their enrollment decisions involve selecting a health care delivery system and may be influenced by whether the HMO has contracts with particular providers. Disenrollment decisions, in turn, may be influenced by breaks in contracts between the HMO and its medical groups. This study examines decisions made by Medicare HMO enrollees when their HMO terminated its relationship with a major medical group; the group then signed a contract with a competing HMO. Beneficiaries were forced to choose between remaining with their HMO and switching to another provider, and switching to the competing HMO where they could keep their provider. Beneficiaries demonstrated considerable loyalty to their providers; nearly 60% switched to the competing HMO. Previous research on health care coverage decisions has been based on models which did not address consumers' knowledge, options, and information sources. In this decision context, we found that knowledge and information sources were the most important determinants of beneficiary decisions.     

Person-organization fit and work-related attitudes and decisions: Examining interactive effects with job fit and conscientiousness.

This study examined boundary conditions that surround the importance of perceived person-organization (P-O) fit for work-related attitudes and decisions. The authors hypothesized that P-O fit is more strongly related to satisfaction and job choice decisions when needs-supplies (N-S) job fit or demands-abilities (D-A) job fit is low, and that P-O fit is more strongly related to job choice decisions for highly conscientious individuals. Hypotheses were tested among 299 participants in a 12-week internship program. Results indicated that P-O fit was more strongly related to satisfaction when individuals experienced low N-S job fit. P-O fit was more strongly related to job choice intentions when individuals experienced low D-A job fit or were highly conscientious. Finally, P-O fit was related to job offer acceptance for highly conscientious individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of client socioeconomic status on selected behaviors, attitudes, and decisions of counselors.

Seven male and 9 female graduate students in counseling psychology were asked to interview an actor and an actress whom they believed to be real clients. To half of the counselors, the players posed as well-to-do individuals, and to half they posed as working class individuals. They briefly mentioned their socioeconomic status at the beginning of the interview and then told the counselor about some of the problems they were experiencing. When the clients were presented as having lower status, a significant correlation coefficient existed between (a) the counselor's self-reported degree of personality similarity to the client and the counselor's self-reported liking for the client, and (b) the counselor's self-reported liking for the client and the counselor's estimate that the client would benefit from long-term counseling. No significant correlation coefficient existed for data collected during high-status interviews. These results suggest that counselors may unconsciously employ a different decision-making process for high- and low-status clients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Servant leadership, procedural justice climate, service climate, employee attitudes, and organizational citizenship behavior: A cross-level investigation.

This study tests the influence of servant leadership on 2 group climates, employee attitudes, and organizational citizenship behavior. Results from a sample of 815 employees and 123 immediate supervisors revealed that commitment to the supervisor, self-efficacy, procedural justice climate, and service climate partially mediated the relationship between servant leadership and organizational citizenship behavior. Cross-level interaction results revealed that procedural justice climate and positive service climate amplified the influence of commitment to the supervisor on organizational citizenship behavior. Implications of these results for theory and practice and directions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The cognitive impact of past behavior: Influences on beliefs, attitudes, and future behavioral decisions.

To study the processes by which past behavior influences future behavior, participants were led to believe that without being aware of it, they had expressed either support for or opposition to the institution of comprehensive exams. Judgment and response time data suggested that participants' perceptions of their past behavior often influenced their decisions to repeat the behavior. This influence was partly the result of cognitive activity that influenced participants' cognitions about specific behavioral consequences and the attitude they based on these cognitions. More generally, however, feedback about past behavior had a direct effect on participants' attitudes and ultimate behavioral decisions that was independent of the outcome-specific cognitions. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for biased scanning of memory, dissonance reduction, self-perception, and the use of behavior as a heuristic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational climate configurations: Relationships to collective attitudes, customer satisfaction, and financial performance.

Research on organizational climate has tended to focus on independent dimensions of climate rather than studying the total social context as configurations of multiple climate dimensions. The authors examined relationships between configurations of unit-level climate dimensions and organizational outcomes. Three profile characteristics represented climate configurations: (1) elevation, or the mean score across climate dimensions; (2) variability, or the extent to which scores across dimensions vary; and (3) shape, or the pattern of the dimensions. Across 2 studies (1,120 employees in 120 bank branches and 4,317 employees in 86 food distribution stores), results indicated that elevation was related to collective employee attitudes and service perceptions, while shape was related to customer satisfaction and financial performance. With respect to profile variability, results were mixed. The discussion focuses on future directions for taking a configural approach to organizational climate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job attitudes in management: IV. Perceived deficiencies in need fulfillment as a function of size of company.

This study was concerned with the relationship between size of organization and perceptions of need satisfaction and need importance in management jobs. A questionnaire provided data from a nationwide sample of 1916 managers. Results showed that at lower levels of management small company managers were more satisfied than large company managers, but at higher levels of management large company managers were more satisfied than small company managers. Size of company had little relationship to the other attitude variable, perceptions of the importance of various needs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Abortion attitudes as determinants of perceptions regarding male involvement in abortion decisions

Abortion decisions have a potentially meaningful effect on the lives of men. Previous research suggests that both men and women generally believe that men have the right to be involved in such decisions. However, very little research attention has been devoted to identifying individual difference correlates of discrepant levels of endorsement for male involvement in abortion decisions. The extent to which abortion attitudes (on a pro-choice to pro-life continuum), conceptualization of abortion as strictly a female issue, and interest in the issue operate as effective predictors of the appropriate level of male involvement in abortion decisions was examined in a sample of 1,387 college students. Results of a multiple regression analysis revealed that 44% of the variance in male involvement scores was explained by the predictor variables.     

Effect of job attitudes, training, and organization climate on performance of the hard-core unemployed.

Examined potential contributors toward the job performance and retention of 478 hard-core unemployed (hcu): (a) the hcu's biographic and demographic background, (b) attitudes toward work, (c) the organizational climate in which he is placed, and (d) the effect of a 2-wk training/orientation program. The sole correlate of the hcu's work effectiveness and behavior was the degree of supportiveness of the organizational climate in which he was placed. In addition, the hcu saw this climate as far less supportive than did his supervisor. Results indicate that programs geared primarily toward adapting the hcu's work attitudes to the predominant social structure in the organization are far less potent than those that also incorporate the adaptation of the organizational climate. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group decisions.

Cites the example of decision making regarding the location of 118 overseas plants by US firms to show that decisions made by either a task force or the board of directors were rated as more effective than were those made by a single executive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discounting behavior and environmental decisions.

Discounting plays a major role in the life cycle of environmental and natural resource policies. Evaluating centuries-scale problems like climate change with standard discount rates yields results that many find ethically unacceptable. Paradoxes abound. Low discount rates are urged for determining the net benefits of climate change, while households fail to undertake energy conservation actions that have payback periods of only a few years. Efforts to uncover discount rates from revealed and stated preferences suggest that a variety of confounding factors may be simultaneously in play. Common property resources provide an example of how market failures can lead to behavior consistent with extreme discounting that can be addressed through effective policy. Finally, politicians who make ultimate policy decisions may have incentives to act in accordance with discount rates not socially optimal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intrainstitutional relocation. Effects on residents'' behavior and psychosocial functioning

INTRODUCTION: Relocation effects in the elderly have been a topic of gerontologic research for many years. Prior research, however, has focused on individuals who could make a cognitive appraisal of the relocation process. With a greater prevalence of cognitive impairments and/or psychiatric illnesses in long-term care residents, research is needed to clarify the impact of relocation on these individuals. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine how intrainstitutional relocation affects behavior and psychosocial functioning in residents with and without cognitive, mood, and/or psychotic disorders. METHOD: This prospective study followed 78 residents being relocated intrainstitutionally in a health-related facility that was undergoing major renovations. Medical and nursing information was collected at 1 month pre-move and at 1 and 3 months post-move. Five areas of behavioral and psychosocial functioning (self-care, disoriented behavior, depressed/anxious mood, irritable behavior, and withdrawn behavior) were assessed using the Multidimensional Observation Scale for Elderly Subjects (MOSES). RESULTS: A significant increase was seen in the number of medical visits (p = .04) from time of relocation to 1 month post-move. The groups diagnosed with mood disorder and psychotic disorder had a statistically significant weight loss (p = .04) between 1 month pre-move and 1 month post-move. The study revealed an increase in the number of residents who fell immediately after relocation, but the increase did not reach statistical significance (p = 12). Residents who fell after relocation had resided at the facility for a longer time than the remainder of the sample (p = .08). Residents with a diagnosis of cognitive impairment showed a statistically significant difference in self-care (p = 0.01) and withdrawn behavior (p = 0.01) at 3 months post-move. Extensive relocation preparation and support may have been the main contribution to diminishing the stress of relocation over time and across diagnostic categories.