Peering through the lens of high-reliability theory: A competencies driven security culture model of high-reliability organisations

To improve organisational safety and enhance security efficiency, organisations seek to establish a culture of security that provides a foundation for how employees should approach security. There are several frameworks and models that provide a set of requirements for forming security cultures; however, for many organisations, the requirements of the frameworks are difficult to meet, if not impossible. In this research, we take a different perspective and focus on the core underlying competencies that high-reliability organisations (HROs) have shown to be effective in achieving levels of risk tolerance consistent with the goals of a security culture. In doing so we draw on high-reliability theory to develop a Security Culture Model that explains how a firm's supportive and practical competencies form its organisational security culture. To refine and test the model, we conducted a developmental mixed-method study using interviews and survey data with professional managers involved in the information security (InfoSec) programs within their respective HROs. Our findings emphasise the importance of an organisation's supportive and practical competencies for developing a culture of security. Our results suggest that organisations' security cultures are a product of their InfoSec practices and that organisational mindfulness, top management involvement and organisational structure are key to the development of those practices.     

Improving diabetes self-management through acceptance, mindfulness, and values: A randomized controlled trial.

Patients in a low-income community health center with Type 2 diabetes (N = 81) taking a one-day education workshop as part of their diabetes medical management were randomly assigned either to education alone or to a combination of education and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Both groups were taught how to manage their diabetes, but those in the ACT condition also learned to apply acceptance and mindfulness skills to difficult diabetes-related thoughts and feelings. Compared with patients who received education alone, after 3 months those in the ACT condition were more likely to use these coping strategies, to report better diabetes self-care, and to have glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) values in the target range. Mediational analyses indicated that changes in acceptance coping and self-management behavior mediated the impact of treatment on changes in HbA1C. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self- and relational observation.

Psychological mindedness and mindfulness are common themes across schools of psychotherapy. A somewhat smaller construct can be better defined: self- and relational observational capacity. This article defines and assesses strategies for 3 components of self- and relational observation: (a) awareness of feelings, ideas, and emotional control; (b) awareness of changing states of mind; and (c) awareness of self-concepts or schemas such as mental models of roles in a relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources.

B. L. Fredrickson's (1998, 2001) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions asserts that people's daily experiences of positive emotions compound over time to build a variety of consequential personal resources. The authors tested this build hypothesis in a field experiment with working adults (n = 139), half of whom were randomly-assigned to begin a practice of loving-kindness meditation. Results showed that this meditation practice produced increases over time in daily experiences of positive emotions, which, in turn, produced increases in a wide range of personal resources (e.g., increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, decreased illness symptoms). In turn, these increments in personal resources predicted increased life satisfaction and reduced depressive symptoms. Discussion centers on how positive emotions are the mechanism of change for the type of mind-training practice studied here and how loving-kindness meditation is an intervention strategy that produces positive emotions in a way that outpaces the hedonic treadmill effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Psychotherapist Mindfulness and the Psychotherapy Process, Bruce et al (2010).

Reports an error in Psychotherapist mindfulness and the psychotherapy process by Noah G. Bruce, Rachel Manber, Shauna L. Shapiro and Michael J. Constantino (Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 2010[Mar], Vol 47[1], 83-97). The order of authorship and the affiliations of the authors was incorrectly printed. The correct order and affiliations are as follows: Noah Bruce, Shauna L. Shapiro, Michael J. Constantino, and Rachel Manber; Kaiser Permanente, Santa Clara University, University of Massachusetts, Stanford University. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2010-05168-010.) A psychotherapist’s ability to relate to his or her patients is essential for decreasing patient suffering and promoting patient growth. However, the psychotherapy field has identified few effective means for training psychotherapists in this ability. In this conceptual article, we propose that mindfulness practice may be a means for training psychotherapists to better relate to their patients. We posit that mindfulness is a means of self-attunement that increases one’s ability to attune to others (in this case, patients) and that this interpersonal attunement ultimately helps patients achieve greater self-attunement that, in turn, fosters decreased symptom severity, greater well-being, and better interpersonal relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Minding one's emotions: Mindfulness training alters the neural expression of sadness": Correction to Farb et al (2010).

Reports an error in "Minding one’s emotions: Mindfulness training alters the neural expression of sadness" by Norman A. S. Farb, Adam K. Anderson, Helen Mayberg, Jim Bean, Deborah McKeon and Zindel V. Segal (Emotion, 2010[Feb], Vol 10[1], 25-33). The DOI printed in the article was incorrect. The correct DOI is presented in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2010-01983-008.) Recovery from emotional challenge and increased tolerance of negative affect are both hallmarks of mental health. Mindfulness training (MT) has been shown to facilitate these outcomes, yet little is known about its mechanisms of action. The present study employed functional MRI (fMRI) to compare neural reactivity to sadness provocation in participants completing 8 weeks of MT and wait-listed controls. Sadness resulted in widespread recruitment of regions associated with self-referential processes along the cortical midline. Despite equivalent self-reported sadness, MT participants demonstrated a distinct neural response, with greater right-lateralized recruitment, including visceral and somatosensory areas associated with body sensation. The greater somatic recruitment observed in the MT group during evoked sadness was associated with decreased depression scores. Restoring balance between affective and sensory neural networks—supporting conceptual and body based representations of emotion—could be one path through which mindfulness reduces vulnerability to dysphoric reactivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mindfulness and psychological process.

The author reviews the articles in the Special Section on Mindfulness, starting from the assumption that emotions evolved as signaling systems that need to be sensitive to environmental contingencies. Failure to switch off emotion is due to the activation of mental representations of present, past, and future that are created independently of external contingencies. Mindfulness training can be seen as one way to teach people to discriminate such “simulations” from objects and contingencies as they actually are. The articles in this Special Section show how even brief laboratory training can have effects on processing affective stimuli; that long-term meditation practitioners show distinct reactions to pain; that longer meditation training is associated with differences in brain structure; that 8 weeks’ mindfulness practice brings about changes in the way emotion is processed showing that participants can learn to uncouple the sensory, directly experienced self from the “narrative” self; that mindfulness training can affect working memory capacity, and enhance the ability of participants to talk about past crises in a way that enables them to remain specific and yet not be overwhelmed. The implications of these findings for understanding emotion and for further research is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of dispositional mindfulness on safety behaviors: A dual process perspective

Based on the dual process model of human cognition, this study investigated the influence of dispositional mindfulness on operators’ safety behaviors and its boundary conditions. In a sample of 212 nuclear power plant control room operators, it was found that both safety compliance and safety participation behaviors were positively influenced by dispositional mindfulness as measured by the 14-item Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory. This effect was still positive after controlling for age, intelligence, work experience and conscientiousness. Moreover, two boundary conditions were identified: the impact of dispositional mindfulness of safety behaviors was stronger among operators who were either more experienced or more intelligent. Theoretically, the framework we used to understand the benefit of mindfulness on safety behaviors has been proved to be useful. Practically, it provides a new and valid criterion that could be used in operators’ selection and training program to improve organizational safety.     

Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS): Psychometric properties of the French translation and exploration of its relations with emotion regulation strategies.

Over the past few years, several questionnaires have been developed to measure mindfulness. The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) was created to specifically capture attention and awareness in daily life (Brown & Ryan, 2003). In this article, we present a French adaptation of the MAAS. In the 1st study, we explored the psychometric properties of this adaptation. In the 2nd study, we investigated its relation to cognitive emotion regulation and depressive symptomatology using path analysis. As in the original version of the MAAS, the French adaptation has a strong 1-factor structure. Moreover, there was a negative relationship between the MAAS and the severity of depressive symptoms, both directly and indirectly. The indirect pathway was mediated by the nonadaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategy of self-blame and the adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategy of positive reappraisal. In conclusion, this questionnaire represents a valid mindfulness measure for French-speaking clinicians and researchers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression, craving, and substance use following a randomized trial of mindfulness-based relapse prevention.

Objective: A strong relation between negative affect and craving has been demonstrated in laboratory and clinical studies, with depressive symptomatology showing particularly strong links to craving and substance abuse relapse. Mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP), shown to be efficacious for reduction of substance use, uses mindfulness-based practices to teach alternative responses to emotional discomfort and lessen the conditioned response of craving in the presence of depressive symptoms. The goal in the current study was to examine the relation between measures of depressive symptoms, craving, and substance use following MBRP. Method: Individuals with substance use disorders (N = 168; mean age 40.45 years, SD = 10.28; 36.3% female; 46.4% non-White) were recruited after intensive stabilization, then randomly assigned to either 8 weekly sessions of MBRP or a treatment-as-usual control group. Approximately 73% of the sample was retained at the final 4-month follow-up assessment. Results: Results confirmed a moderated-mediation effect, whereby craving mediated the relation between depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory) and substance use (Timeline Follow-Back) among the treatment-as-usual group but not among MBRP participants. MBRP attenuated the relation between postintervention depressive symptoms and craving (Penn Alcohol Craving Scale) 2 months following the intervention (?2 = .21). This moderation effect predicted substance use 4 months following the intervention (?2 = .18). Conclusion: MBRP appears to influence cognitive and behavioral responses to depressive symptoms, partially explaining reductions in postintervention substance use among the MBRP group. Although results are preliminary, the current study provides evidence for the value of incorporating mindfulness practice into substance abuse treatment and identifies a potential mechanism of change following MBRP. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)