Health Risk Appraisal at the College Level

Abstract

This study attempted to determine if health risk appraisals with personalized conferences affected the “health age” of undergraduates at a large, midwestern university. One hundred thirteen (113) students enrolled in four undergraduate health education classes served as subjects. A nonequivalent control group design was employed with two of the classes consisting of students majoring in health-allied disciplines.

On the first and last day of class during the ten week course, all students completed a health risk appraisal questionnaire—“Health Evaluation Learning Program”—used to acquire past and present health history and present lifestyle practices. Data from the questionnaires were analyzed by a computer into a printout known as the “Health Risk Index.” All groups received their instruction from lectures. The control groups followed a popular college text and did not receive any feedback via the index or personalized conference. Each student in the experimental classes received a personalized conference with the instructor at which time their index was interpreted indicating the degree of future mortality risk. Students were informed that their health age reflected their risk compared to the risk of the average person of the same age, sex, and race. The principal hypothesis was based on the difference between one's actual age (chronological) and one's health age (risk). A 4-factor, 2-between, 1-within, repeated measures analysis of variance was used to determine the effect, if any, of the health risk appraisal with the conference on each group's health age and comparisons between/among groups.

Students in the experimental groups increased the difference between actual age and health age from pretest to posttest time significantly more than students in the control groups, with those not majoring in health-allied disciplines displaying the largest pretest to posttest difference (p<.05). Sex status did not significantly influence the age differential.     

Constituency Building: Determining Employees' Willingness to Participate in Corporate Political Activities

Employing a sample drawn from employees of Fortune 500 companies, this study helps define which employees are likely to participate in corporate constituency building efforts and the relation between the variables leading to participation. Supporting and expanding findings by J. E. Grunig (1989) and Baysinger, Keim, and Zeithaml (1985), the present study revealed that employee political activity can be predicted by a model that features employee organizational commitment (based on each employee's position in the corporate organizational hierarchy, amount of company stock owned, and tenure with the company), prior record of noncompany political activism, amount of information seeking to become informed on public policy matters, degree of cognitive involvement, and willingness to support corporate public policy efforts. These findings can assist public relations practitioners who seek to create employee constituency efforts in the most feasible and efficient manner.     

Musculoskeletal injuries associated with selected university staff and faculty in an office environment

A research team with backgrounds in occupational therapy, rehabilitation, policy and rulemaking, and prevention programs affecting occupational health and safety designed, validated, and analyzed an ergonomics survey of university staff and faculty. The purpose of the study was to validate identified risk factors from the literature contributing to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMDs) in an office setting within a university setting. The study was also designed to determine differences between faculty and staff in the university setting and their exposure to physical risk factors to WRMDs. The results suggest faculty have their keyboard in awkward positions more frequently than staff, and staff had more experience with mechanical stress than faculty. The researchers recommend parameters for the design of a university ergonomics program based on employee and education, management commitment, medical case management, problem job identification, and development of solutions.     

The Role of Supervisory Referral in Employee Assistance Programs

Abstract

A growing number of organizations offer Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) to help employees with their personal problems. Many organizations rely on their supervisors to help identify and refer troubled employees to the EAP for assistance, yet very little conclusive evidence exists regarding the factors that influence whether or not supervisors identify and intervene with troubled employees. A previous review of the literature (Nord & Littrell, 1989) found that the following variables were consistently related to referral: (a) degree of management support for the EAP, (b) gender of supervisor, (c) gender of subordinate, (d) existence of a supervisor network, (e) occupational category of the employees supervised, (f) social distance between supervisor and troubled employee, (g) supervisors' attitude toward their role in referral, and (h) supervisor knowledge of the EAP. However, results of some of the studies reviewed for the current paper were inconsistent with Nord and Littrell's (1989) findings. Additional research is needed in this area, including research on the effectiveness of EAP supervisory training, in order to provide guidelines for the administration of effective EAP programs.     

INFORMATION ACQUISITION UNDER RISKY CONDITIONS ACROSS REAL AND HYPOTHETICAL SETTINGS

I collect data on how subjects acquire information about risky choices in both real and hypothetical settings using process‐tracing software called Mouselab. On average, there are no significant differences across settings in the amount of time subjects take to make a choice or the completeness of the information they acquire. Subjects also acquire information in sequences consistent with an integration model of decision‐making, such as expected utility theory or prospect theory. I do not find significant differences in risk preferences across settings, on average, but I do find that subjects' risk preferences are related to the completeness of the information that they acquire and where they start their information acquisition. (JEL C91, D80, D83)     

Complex Worker: Self-Concept and Boundary-Work Among the Solo Self-Employed

Abstract

This article proposes to examine the self-concept of members of an occupational category referred to as the “solo self-employed”—women and men who work alone and do not employ other workers. Our findings reveal that although the solo self-employed themselves do not make clear phenomenological use of the solo-self-employed category, they do speak similarly about their occupational independence, albeit without group awareness. The self-concept of the solo self-employed is mainly based on boundary work in relation to two well-known cultural-occupational categories: “employed workers” and “businesspeople.” Solo-employed workers prefer to distance themselves from these two categories and define themselves through negative comparisons between themselves and the two preceding categories. The Discussion section proposes perceiving solo self-employment as a social category that constructs an alternative self in relation to the selves associated with popular cultural-occupational scenarios.     

Effects of online news forum on corporate reputation

This study tests the effects of online discussions about a company in an online news forum on people's perception of the corporate reputation of the company. The study is a 2 (tone of comments: negative versus positive) by 2 (number of comments: one versus five) factorial design experiment (n = 80). We found significant interaction effects between the two factors (tone versus number of comments) with regard to people's perception of the company's social responsiveness and employee treatment.     

Wage Inequality and Performance in Nonprofit and For‐Profit Organizations

This article examines the effects of several forms of wage inequality on service quality and employee effort. We suggest that two popular theories, tournament and fair wage/equity, are not necessarily competing. Each theory accurately describes aspects of employee behavior, but because of sectoral differences in organizational objectives and employee attitudes, tournament theory's predictions are relatively stronger in the for‐profit sector, while fair wage/equity theory's predictions are relatively stronger in the nonprofit sector. Using an employer–employee matched data set of nursing homes linked to a federal regulatory database and a resident survey, we found that ownership moderates the relationship between wage inequality and service quality. Although wage inequality positively affects service quality in the for‐profit sector, the reverse is true among nonprofit organizations. We also found that overall wage inequality in the workplace has a more pronounced influence on employee discretionary effort than does the employee's place in the distribution of wages.     

Creating a positive emotional culture: Effect of internal communication and impact on employee supportive behaviors

The study surveyed 506 employees in the United States to test the effect of internal communication (i.e., corporate-level symmetrical and leadership-level responsive communications) on fostering a positive emotional culture characterized by companionate love, joy, pride, and gratitude. In addition, we tested the interplay between corporate internal communication and a positive emotional culture and its influence on supportive employee behaviors, specifically, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and employee advocacy. Results indicated that symmetrical communication and responsive leadership communication cultivated a positive emotional culture in organizations. Such culture also fostered employee OCB and advocacy. Moreover, corporate symmetrical communication directly and positively influenced employee OCB. Finally, this study found that employee OCB positively affected employee advocacy. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings for public relations scholars and practitioners were discussed.     

Chapter 9: Disaster Consequence Management

SUMMARY

The critical element in a workplace approach to consequence management for disaster, terrorism and other critical incidents is the integrated planning and response across numerous workplace functions including human resources, employee assistance, security and facilities, medical, occupational health, wellness and work-life. These corporate functions ensure the performance, health, safety and human continuity of the workplace. In this model, workplace professionals charged with the human capital and continuity of their organizations play new crucial roles that require an understanding of (1) the integration of mental health into a public health approach for managing the psychological and behavioral implications of terrorism; (2) the integration of operational continuity planning with human continuity resources; and (3) the integration of workplace preparedness into the larger sphere of population health interventions for the 21st century. This new role of workplace health and productivity professionals is necessary to the health and resiliency of our global community and its citizens in the workplace and at home.     

CATEGORY REPORTING IN CHARITABLE GIVING: AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS

We examine the effect of category reporting on charitable giving, aiming to disentangle the publicity effect from the category effect. We compare subjects' donation decisions under three reporting plans: category reporting, where an honored category is prespecified and qualifying subjects were publicly acknowledged; category no reporting, where the same category was utilized but the qualifying donors were not publicly acknowledged; and no reporting, where neither category setting nor public reporting was utilized. We found that category reporting significantly increased average donations relative to no reporting, and that this superiority was due to the dual presence of the category setting and the public reporting. The category setting anchors donations toward the category threshold and increased the average donations when the threshold was modestly set. The public reporting, on the other hand, only worked at the highest category level. It further increased the donations by providing extra social‐image benefits. (JEL C90, C91, D64, H00)     

Disability and job stress: Implications for vocational rehabilitation planning

Because people with disabilities often experience an increased risk for physical and psychological complications of job stress, vocational rehabilitation professionals must be able to (a) identify individual and work-environmental risk factors for job stress and (b) design appropriate interventions to minimize those risk factors. The purpose of this article is to (a) present two models of occupational stress, (b) examine factors common to each of these models that are associated with employee health and well-being, and (c) suggest implications for rehabilitation planning.     

Newborns' Perceptual Categorization for Closed and Open Geometric Forms

This study explored newborns' ability to perceive perceptual similarities between different exemplars of 2 broad classes of simple shapes: closed and open geometric forms. Three experiments were carried out using a visual paired‐comparison task. Evidence showed that, after familiarization either to closed‐shaped or to open‐shaped forms, newborns manifested a novelty preference for a novel‐category rather than for a familiar‐category exemplar (Experiment 1). This result could not be explained either as a consequence of the newborns' inability to discriminate between instances of the same category of simple geometric forms (Experiment 2), or as a consequence of a spontaneous preference for the novel‐category exemplars (Experiment 3). Overall, findings revealed that newborns are able to form broad categories of distinguishable geometric shapes by relying on the shapes' perceptual similarity.     

A Study of Residential Condition and Satisfaction of the Elderly in China

This article investigates the current housing reality and subjective appraisal of the elderly in China by presenting the latest empirical evidence. Based on a literature review, survey data of September 2009 were analyzed, which included 692 Chinese households with a focus on their elderly members. Major findings were the following: (1) affordability was an outstanding issue, with 56.6% of the elderly respondents feeling overburdened by housing costs; (2) facilities in the homes were less of an issue than their community facilities, which were inadequate especially for the handicapped; (3) the elderly respondents as a whole seemed to enjoy their housing property, though significant differences in homeownership and residential satisfaction were found among them; (4) differences were also found among the elderly in terms of access to healthcare (including emergency help), transportation, and housing environment; and (5) residential satisfaction of the elderly were related to their occupational status before retirement, income, health, distance to healthcare facilities, living arrangements, homeownership, housing conditions, social contacts/visits, and gender. Implications of the findings are discussed for research and policy considerations.     

The Intentions of Parents in Influencing the Career Development of Their Children

Parents' intentions associated with critical incidents they undertake in the career development of their children are examined from an intentional action perspective. From interviews with 207 parents, 1,772 critical incidents were identified. Approximately half of the incidents contributed to the construction of 10 categories representing the intentions of parents; the remainder was used to substantiate the categories. The categories illustrate that parents, although not necessarily attempting to influence particular occupational choice, are active agents in influencing their children in a broad range of areas in career development.     

Italian corporate foundations and the challenge of multiple stakeholder interests

This article investigates corporate foundations, a specific expression of corporate philanthropy that is narrowly considered in the literature. We aim to verify whether the interests of the founder firm are significant antecedents of the model, activities, and issues addressed by the related foundation. Data were collected through a survey of seventy Italian corporate foundations, representing 59.8 percent of the total number of such foundations based in Italy. The analysis identified three clusters of corporate foundations—granter, expert, and edifier. Research demonstrates that through these clusters, the interests pursued by founder firms have a significant influence on integration between firms and corporate foundations and on the foundations' activities.     

Health promotion and disease prevention: a look at demand management programs

This Issue Brief describes employers' efforts to contain health expenditures through demand management programs. These programs are designed to reduce utilization by focusing on disease prevention and health promotion. Demand management includes work site health promotion, wellness programs, and access management. Work site health promotion is a comprehensive approach to improving health and includes awareness, health education, behavioral change, and organizational health initiatives. Wellness programs usually include stress management, smoking cessation, weight management, back care, health screenings, nutrition education, work place safety, prenatal and well baby care, CPR and first aid classes, and employee assistance programs (EAPs). These programs are often viewed positively by workers and can have long-term benefits for employers above and beyond health care cost containment. Demand management can benefit employers by increasing productivity, employee retention, and employee morale and by reducing turnover, absenteeism, future medical claims, and ultimately expenditures on health care. Even though a growing number of employers are offering wellness programs, only 37 percent of full-time workers employed in medium and large private establishments were eligible for wellness programs by 1993. However, a recent survey found that 88 percent of major employers have introduced some form of health promotion, disease prevention, or early intervention initiative to encourage healthy lifestyles among their salaried employees. Distinctions must be drawn between short- and long-term strategies. Demand management can be thought of as a short-term strategy when the focus of the program is on creating more appropriate and efficient health care utilization. Disease prevention is characterized by longer-term health improvement objectives. Whether the purpose is to reduce utilization in the short term or in the long term, the ultimate goal remains the same: to reduce health care expenditures while improving overall health. This goal can be achieved through the use of health risk appraisals, organizational health risk appraisals, high risk programs, awareness programs, medical call centers, return to work programs, EAPs, and smoking cessation programs. Studies of a health program's cost effectiveness must disentangle the effects of many competing factors on cost effectiveness. For example, a health risk appraisal program may identify health problems of which the patient and the health care provider were unaware, resulting in the treatment of these health problems. At the same time, the employer may have switched from a nonmanaged pharmaceutical program to a managed program with incentives for participants to utilize generic and/or mail order drugs. As a result, when evaluating a health promotion program, the long-run impact on the program's cost effectiveness is most important.     

Advancing case manager motivation in child welfare: Job control's curvilinear relationship and instrumental feedback's moderating influence

To date, no published empirical studies in the field of child welfare (or social work) have investigated the curvilinear relationship between job characteristics and any aspect of employee functioning. The present study addressed this research gap by testing job control's direct and interactive curvilinear effects on motivation using a sample of 419 county-based public sector child welfare case managers. Consistent with Cavanaugh, Boswell, Roehling, and Boudreau's (2000) challenge–hindrance framework, study findings revealed a significant curvilinear job control × linear instrumental feedback interaction. No support, however, was found for a direct curvilinear effect for job control. Empirical results advance the child welfare literature by being the first to demonstrate how job characteristics impact the motivation of child welfare case managers in a curvilinear manner. Study data also clarify prior nonsignificant tests of Warr's (1987) vitamin model and extend seminal findings from Karasek's (1979) job demands–control model. Finally, instrumental feedback's capacity to integrate three well-established but previously unrelated models of occupational health is discussed.     

Sociodemographic Determinants of Occupational Risks of Exposure to COVID‐19 in Canada

The activities performed by Canadian workers in some occupations may increase the risk of exposure to infectious diseases such as COVID‐19. This research note explores how occupational exposure risks vary by labor force characteristics using publicly available Canadian data in combination with a data set providing information on the level of physical proximity and frequency of exposure to infections or diseases faced by workers in different occupations. The results show important sociodemographic differences. First, women work in occupations associated with significantly higher average risks of exposure to COVID‐19 than men. This is driven by their overrepresentation in high‐risk broad occupational categories such as health occupations. Second, older workers (65 years or more), a group vulnerable to COVID‐19, appear to work in occupations requiring performing activities characterized by a lower level of physical proximity than their younger colleagues, with minimal differences in the frequency of exposure to diseases or infections. Finally, workers in low‐income occupations are employed in occupations that put them at greater risk of exposure to COVID‐19 than other workers. This is especially the case for women, immigrants, and members of visible minority groups in low‐income occupations. More broadly, this research note provides insights into the health‐related dimension of the literature on occupational tasks and labor market stratification.     

Innovation in the occupational health physician profession requires the development of a work collective to improve the efficiency of MSD prevention

Given the ageing population of occupational health physicians and the deteriorating situation of employee health, reforms targeting the multi-disciplinary nature of occupational health are currently being drawn up. These are of great concern to doctors in terms of the future of occupational health, notably with regard to changing medical practices. The objective of this study is to explore the actual practices of occupational health physicians within the framework of MSD prevention in France. By analysing the activity of occupational health physicians, we could gain a better understanding of the coordination between those involved in OHS with the ultimate goal being to improve prevention. Based on an analysis of peer activity, this method made it possible to push beyond pre-constructed discourse. According to activity theories, it is through others that the history and controversies of a profession can be grasped and skills developed. The results produced by these collective discussions on activity analysis contributed to establish a collective point of view about the important aspects of their profession that need defending and the variations in professional genre in relation to the current reforms, notably.