Commitment and cost control in the health care system.

Suggests that government has contributed to an escalation of health costs that is pushing quality health care out of reach of many Americans. The Health Care Financing Administration is seeking to correct this problem by replacing inappropriate incentives with ones that reward efficiency while assuring access to care. Provisions in the law that change benefits, encourage innovative service delivery, and provide incentives for cost-effective delivery and management are discussed. Coalitions of business, labor, and providers and consumers of health care are becoming more active in reducing health care costs by promoting alternative delivery systems and stimulating more cost-conscious behavior. (0 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test of a list procedure for inducing compliance with a request to donate money.

A compliance tactic whereby a target is first shown a list of other compliers and is then asked to comply with a request was examined in 5 field experiments. Exp I with 120 university students showed that this tactic significantly increased the number of donors when they were asked for a money donation. Exps II and III with 60 adults and 60 male students replicated the basic finding for a household population and for a request for a blood donation, respectively. Exp IV with 300 male students varied the number of other donors and the size of their donations and found that Ss' compliance with a request to donate money was affected by these factors. Findings are interpreted as consistent with the expectations derived from the informational social influence hypothesis. Exp V with 90 adults replicated part of Exp IV and suggested that a list effect does not materialize when the norms governing compliance are too strongly violated. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Increasing compliance with medical procedures: application of the high-probability request procedure to a toddler

The microsome of insect cells expressing CYP Ge-5 (CYP93B1), a cytochrome P450 cDNA of licorice (Glycyrrhiza echinata L.), catalyzed the formation of [14C]licodione and [14C]2-hydroxynaringenin from (2S)-[14C]liquiritigenin and (2S)-[14C]naringenin, respectively. On acid treatment, the products were converted to 14C-labeled 7,4'-dihydroxyflavone and apigenin. Eriodictyol was also converted to luteolin by the reaction with the microsome of yeast expressing CYP93B1 and subsequent acid treatment. CYP93B1 was thus shown to encode (2S)-flavanone 2-hydroxylase, which has previously been designated to licodione synthase and flavone synthase II depending on the substrates employed.     

Graduate education then and now.

A comparison of graduate schools of the 1930s with those of today shows that there have been losses with respect to some values (e.g., purity of motives for intellectual work), and gains for other values, such as democracy in admissions. Changes in the university can be understood as responses to new and almost overwhelming demands upon it, which began with World War II and have continued to the present. More recent social changes and our present knowledge may make possible some reform in graduate education. Personal observations of the psychology departments at Harvard University, in the 1930s, and the University of California, Berkeley, in 1940 and thereafter, are used to exemplify trends that seem to be revealed through study of the history of American higher education. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Commitment to company and union: Parallel models.

Parallel models of commitment to company and commitment to union were tested with 16 employees of the transportation department of a unionized metropolitan newspaper. In addition to the commitment measures, Ss completed segments of the Job Diagnostic Survey and instruments assessing job stress, perceived pay equity, and social involvement. Results indicate that an organizational-commitment model is less successful in predicting union commitment than company commitment. The most striking divergence occurred with respect to personal characteristics, which were significantly correlated with company commitment and were unrelated to union commitment. However, the work-experience variables of supervisory relations and social involvement were significantly correlated with both types of commitment. Results have implications for the concept of "dual loyalty," which appears to be explained by day-to-day work experiences. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitude change and justification for compliance.

"This experiment has tentatively illustrated some of the processes involved in creating and reducing psychological dissonance and the implications of such dissonance for attitude change in compliance situations. It was hypothesized that increased justification for taking an opinion position discrepant from one's private opinion would lead to decreased dissonance and therefore decreased attitude change toward the discrepant position. Ss were asked to write an essay taking a stand opposite to their initial opinion on a given issue. One group of Ss was then given a number of reasons for compliance with the request (high justification condition). For another group (low justification condition) Ss were given no detailed justification for writing the essay. Attitude change was determined from a postexperimental questionnaire… . Attitude change tended to be greater where manipulated (and perceived) justification was least." From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:1GD76C. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapeutic compliance.

Some of the problems of therapeutic compliance are examined from the differential perspectives of medical, social psychology, and behavior modification literatures. Particular emphasis is placed on the relevance of social psychology research in understanding clinical problems of compliance. (3 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test of a concession procedure for inducing verbal, behavioral, and further compliance with a request to give blood.

The rejection-then-retreat technique for inducing compliance involves a sequencing of requests for favors in which a requester begins by asking a target person for an extreme favor and, after being refused, retreats to a smaller favor (the one that was desired from the outset). Previous research has suggested that the power of this technique derives from the target's perception that a requester who employs it has made a concession and from the action of a societal rule for reciprocation of concessions. On the basis of evidence on the consequences of the perception of concession in an interaction, it was predicted that the rejection-then-retreat procedure would be superior to comparison procedures that did not involve a concession. This was found to be the case for verbal compliance, behavior compliance, and compliance with requests for subsequent favors. 189 Ss on a university campus were approached on campus with requests to donate blood. 100% of Ss refused to donate blood every 2 mo for a period of 3 yrs, but 84% of them agreed to comply with the subsequent critical request to donate 1 pint of blood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Constructing productions and producing constructions: A case for nuance.

Extends the discussion of the production of psychological knowledge that was initiated in articles by K. J. Gergen (see record 1986-00014-001), S. Scarr (see record 1986-10725-001), and T. E. Schact (see record 1986-11891-001) by reflecting on factors that render the discussion of psychological knowledge difficult and by calling attention to an omission in the constructionist position outlined by Scarr and by Gergen. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Delayed male maturity is a cost of producing large sperm in Drosophila

Among fruit-fly species of the genus Drosophila there is remarkable variation in sperm length, with some species producing gigantic sperm (e.g., > 10 times total male body length). These flies are also unusual in that males of some species exhibit a prolonged adult nonreproductive phase. We document sperm length, body size, and sex-specific ages of reproductive maturity for 42 species of Drosophila and, after controlling for phylogeny, test hypotheses to explain the variation in rates of sexual maturation. Results suggest that delayed male maturity is a cost of producing long sperm. A possible physiological mechanism to explain the observed relationship is discussed.     

Commitment insurance: Compensating for the autonomy costs of interdependence in close relationships.

A model of the commitment-insurance system is proposed to examine how low and high self-esteem people cope with the costs interdependence imposes on autonomous goal pursuits. In this system, autonomy costs automatically activate compensatory cognitive processes that attach greater value to the partner. Greater partner valuing compels greater responsiveness to the partner’s needs. Two experiments and a daily diary study of newlyweds supported the model. Autonomy costs automatically activate more positive implicit evaluations of the partner. On explicit measures of positive illusions, high self-esteem people continue to compensate for costs. However, cost-primed low self-esteem people correct and override their positive implicit sentiments when they have the opportunity to do so. Such corrections put the marriages of low self-esteem people at risk: Failing to compensate for costs predicted declines in satisfaction over a 1-year period. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Planning for compliance

Cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions to vitamin K are rare. They occur almost exclusively with fat-soluble vitamin K (K1). The lesion is most commonly a pruritic, indurated plaque at the site where the vitamin was injected. Most plaques resolve within 4 to 8 week without sequelae, but some progress to produce scar-like changes that may last for years.     

Reintrojection therapy: A procedure for altering parental introjects.

Proposes that clients can be helped to deal with formative relationships through reintrojection therapy procedures that are introduced after work dealing with resentments, appreciations, and other unfinished business pertaining to the parent has been accomplished. The reintrojection procedure includes having the client select an early scene that exemplifies the parent's attitude, behavior, and/or feelings toward the client. The therapist elicits more information; then the client changes chairs and assumes the role of the parent who is honest with him/herself and honest with the therapist. If the client takes back his/her own role and states what has been learned and no change has taken place, the procedure is terminated. If understanding has occurred, the client is asked to reassume the role of the parent and express parent feelings about the client. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of compliance for chronic asthmatic children.

Compliance to a theophylline regimen by 11 male and 11 female chronically asthmatic 7–12 yr olds was assessed by a riboflavin tracer method. Ss who took 80% or more of their prescribed medication were considered compliant; Ss who took less were considered noncompliant. Results indicate that noncompliant Ss experienced significantly more wheezing, greater variability in peak flow rates, and lower overall scores than compliant Ss. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patient compliance in general practice. Factors contributing to poor compliance and suggestions for improvement

Patients from a solo general practice were followed up to determine what factors were common to those who were poor compliers. A multiple treatment programme where oral antibiotics were a part of the programme was the most frequent feature of poorly complying patients, especially amongst 0-9 and 30-39-year-olds, and ENT patients of any age. Improvement may be gained by establishing good rapport with patients, ordering a simple treatment programme and avoiding overprescribing for all patients, but especially for those groups of patients who are particularly poor compliers.     

Commitment to organizational change: Extension of a three-component model.

Three studies were conducted to test the application of a three-component model of workplace commitment (J. P. Meyer & N. I Allen, 1991; J. P. Meyer & L. Herscovitch, 2001) in the context of employee commitment to organizational change. Study 1, conducted with 224 university students, provided preliminary evidence for the validity of newly developed Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment to Change Scales. Studies 2 and 3, conducted with hospital nurses (N = 157 and 108, respectively), provided further support for the validity of the three Commitment to Change Scales, and demonstrated that (a) commitment to a change is a better predictor of behavioral support for a change than is organizational commitment, (b) affective and normative commitment to a change are associated with higher levels of support than is continuance commitment, and (c) the components of commitment combine to predict behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Construct of Work Commitment: Testing an Integrative Framework.

This study meta-analytically examined extensive literature associated with work commitment. The primary purposes were to (a) cumulate correlations among dimensions of work commitment to see which were intercorrelated and (b) determine impact of work commitment dimensions and subdimensions on specific outcome variables (job satisfaction, job performance, turnover intentions, and turnover). Results were cumulated across 997 articles. The positive manifold of correlations suggests the presence of a common psychological construct underlying different commitment forms, with the exception of calculative, continuance, and union commitment. Most of the 94 meta-analyzed correlations were small, suggesting that concept redundancy is not a major concern. Meta-analyses of the correlations of 24 commitment constructs with 4 outcome variables suggest that different commitment forms have similar patterns of correlations with outcome variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)