A criterion-referenced multidimensional job-related model prediction capability to perform occupations among persons with chronic pain

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this prospective study was an exploration of the construct of the criterion-referenced multidimensional job-related model (CMVA) aimed for predicting patients' with chronic pain capability to perform occupations. METHODS: The study samples were 1) participants (n=84) who at present were not performing employed work (median sick-listing period 12 months) because of chronic pain and 2) participants (n = 104) who at present were performing employed work at least 20 hours of a workweek. The participants had experiences of 40 different occupations classified into five of the occupational categories of Jist's Enhanced Dictionary of Occupational Titles. Data were collected through ten assessment instruments and a structured interview, comprising 54 variables and 465 items. Data were analyzed using multiple regression with forward entering of variables. RESULTS: The CMVA model (Adjusted R^2 0.777, F (4, 183) = 164.067; p<0.001) was able to explain 78% of the variance. CMVA contained the aspects; "the work demands-variable, the person-variable of work life values, the environment-variable of social support and the two occupational performances-variables; self-perceived capability to perform work tasks/the simulated work tasks". CONCLUSIONS: The construct of CMVA was robust suggesting that among persons with chronic pain, the predictors focusing on their capability to perform occupations are of great importance.     

Validation of the theory: satisfaction with time-delimited daily occupations

OBJECTIVES: This study examines the construct validity of the theory Satisfaction with time-delimited daily occupations (STO). The outcome of STO concerns how individuals perceive their occupational health status and to what degree the individuals experience satisfaction with their performance of time-delimited daily occupations. DESIGN: The "known-groups technique" was used for discriminating the occupational health status among four groups (n = 147) of full-time workers or sick-listed participants. A mailed ActivityLog-sheet was used for recording their occupational health 24 times during 24 hours. The computerized program ActivityLog was used for data registration. The data analysis were accounted by ANOVA, Tukey's HSD test with significance level of p < 0,05 using the SPSS program. RESULTS: The occupational health status did not differ significantly among the four groups, but the number of records concerning work (p = 0,00) and care (p = 0,02) time-delimited daily occupations were significantly different. The patterns of occupational health status during the 24-hour-records were visually separated for the four groups. CONCLUSION: There is need for refining the STO theory and then for undertaking further investigations of the STO construct validity.     

The 1981 socioeconomic index for occupations in Canada

Nous présentons ici un nouvel index socio-économique des occupations, basé sur le recensement de 1981. Il est généralement admis que l'occupation est le meilleur indicateur de statut socio-économique, mais l'importance accordée au prestige, au revenu et à léducation dans la hiérarchisation des occupations demeure matière à débats. Pour cet index, nous avons décidé d'accorder un poids égal aux niveaux d'éducation et de revenu, en rant que composantes additives du statut socio-économique. Aussi, pour fins de continuité, nous avons calibré l 'index sur la base de l échelle Pineo-Porter de prestige.
This article presents a socioeconomic index for the total Canadian labour force, based on 1981 Census data. It also reviews the problems and criticisms of indexes of this kind, and attempts to specify the meaning of socioeconomic scales and the uses to which they may be legitimately put. The present index is most applicable in situations where access to data is limited to occupational titles and where one desires a unidimensional contextual indicator which locates individuals in the Canadian occupational structure at a given point in time. Sociological analysis of structured inequality, however, may be advanced most effectively if, where feasible, a full range of methodological options is considered, including the assessment of conditions on the level of the individual, the use of other contextual levels such as the workplace, and the investigation of occupation, gender and class as interdependent historical products.     

Estimating sex discrimination in professional occupations with the dictionary of occupational titles

Although women have gained entrance into some of the top professional occupations, they appear to have achieved few economic gains from this progress. The extensive occupational segregation existing between men and women in all occupations handicaps investigations of the sources of this persistent inequality. This article proposes an exploratory method for identifying occupations containing comparable work and presents an analysis of male‐female wage differences within a subset of the highly skilled professional occupations. Using a cluster analysis of the characteristics of jobs available in the 1977 Dictionary of Occupational Titles, three clusters of high‐skill occupations are identified. Next, a sample of labor‐force participants, aged 25 to 35 years and employed in these occupations, is used in an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression of hourly wages on a standard set of labor market traits. These results are used to decompose the male‐female wage gap. A liberal interpretation of the decomposition estimates is that between 39.9% and 58.8% of the gap is attributed to comparable‐worth discrimination.     

The effects of a topical analgesic and placebo in treatment of chronic knee pain

Chronic knee pain is a prevalent health problem of old and middle age. The authors' objective was to determine whether a topical analgesic would reduce knee pain and improve the function of a group of 40- to 65-year-old people with chronic knee pain. The experimental design was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. The dependent variables were knee pain, active range of motion, and isometric strength. Forty-six men and women volunteered, of whom 3 dropped out, leaving 23 in the treatment group and 20 in the placebo group. Knee pain was assessed with a visual analogue scale and the knee-pain scale for frequency and severity. Testing took place before treatment and after 21 and 35 days of treatment. The results indicated that although both groups experienced improved pain scores, there were no differences between groups over the treatment period for any of the dependent variables.     

Professions and Powerlessness: Female marginality in the learned occupations

This paper argues that the existing sociological literature on the learned professions and on scientific occupations has developed in ways that are now theoretically unproductive. One sympton of this dead-end is the failure of sociologists of the professions to include research on scientists in their discussions and vice versa. A second symptom is the lack of attention to the implications of the work of Jamous, Peloille. and Bourdieu in both the sociology of scientists and of professions. The third symptom of the malaise is the failure to generate sociologically plausible explanations for the marginalisation of female entrants to science and the professions. The paper argues that a novel direction for sociological argument can be derived by remedying the three symptoms simultaneously.     

Social inequality and the sociology of work and occupations

Although occupation for a long time played a central role in sociological research on inequality, today it is only one topic among others. In spite of this development, this article asks whether sociology has abandoned the topic of occupation too soon. Based on a theory of functional differentiation supplemented with some arguments concerning the sociological concepts of stratification and individualization, this article presents a new possibility of analysing the problem of social inequality focusing on the forms occupation and organization in modern society.     

Effectiveness of a psychosocial intervention model for persons with chronic psychiatric disorders in long-term hospitalization

The article describes a psychosocial model of intervention with psychiatric patients in long-term hospitalization in a psychiatric ward in Israel and reports the findings of the evaluation conducted of its effectiveness. The model was aimed at maintaining or improving the patients' functioning in four main areas: personal hygiene, environmental maintenance, occupational competency, and social and recreational activities. For each patient, an individualized intervention program was designed and implemented by a personal case manager appointed from the ward's clinical staff. The programs involved family and ward staff as well as the patients themselves. The evaluation, based on comparison of monthly data for 4 months before and 12 months during the intervention, showed significant improvement in all but two areas of functioning: social functioning and psychiatric status. The findings, although in need of confirmation in larger, representative samples of patients in Israel and elsewhere, hold promise for effective intervention with patients whose treatment today consists largely of medication.     

Uncertainty and the lives of persons with AIDS

This article uses interview data to explore how 23 gay and bisexual men who had AIDS were affected by and managed uncertainty. Before diagnosis these individuals had to find ways to cope with uncertainty about their risk of contracting AIDS and about their initial symptoms. After diagnosis they had to find answers to their questions about why they contracted this disease, whether they would be able to function in the short run, whether their illness would kill them, and whether they would be allowed to live and (if death was unavoidable) to die with dignity. The data suggest that persons with AIDS respond to the uncertainties of their illness by attempting to assert as much control as possible over their lives, through such divergent strategies as seeking and avoiding knowledge about their illness.     

Technology,offshoring and the task content of occupations in the United Kingdom

The authors analyse change in employment levels and in the task content of occupations, both within occupations (i.e. at the intensive margin) and between occupations (i.e. at the extensive margin) in the United Kingdom over the period 1997–2006 using data from the national Skills Survey, which has comparable within‐occupation task data for three waves: 1997, 2001 and 2006. They find that within‐occupation task content changed significantly, and that the magnitude of change was similar to that found at the extensive margin. Their econometric results suggest that these intensive‐margin shifts can be explained by technological improvements but not by offshoring.     

Sexual functioning in women with chronic pelvic pain: the impact of depression, support, and abuse

Many studies have documented associations between sexual functioning, depression, experiences of childhood sexual abuse, relationship support, and chronic pelvic pain, but none have addressed the interrelationships among all of these variables in a unified model. The aim of this preliminary study was to construct an integrative model predicting sexual functioning for women with chronic pelvic pain. Sixty-three women with chronic pelvic pain completed measures of sexual functioning for use as the criterion variable, and measures of the impact of chronic pain, depression, experiences of sexual abuse, and relationship support as predictors. The primary finding was that depression mediated the effects of child sexual abuse and partially mediated the effects of relationship support on sexual behavior and satisfaction with the sexual relationship. In addition to its indirect relationship through depression, relationship support also independently predicted sexual function. Thus, in this nonclinical sample, the effects of child sexual abuse on sexual function depended on the extent of depressive symptoms, while the influence of relationship support depended in part on depression.     

Trends in the occupations of eminent black entrepreneurs in the United States

This study analyzes the occupations of black Americans who have been nationally recognized for their business achievements. Data from renowned encyclopedic sources of biographical information show that occupational niches that arose because of racial segregation and limited opportunities for blacks to participate in the economic mainstream, such as personal services and undertaking, are no longer important routes into the “black business elite.” Yet, these data also suggest that, during the 20th century, entertainment, beauty products, and advertising became major pathways into this elite because of an opportunity structure that promoted blacks’ participation in these occupational niches yet restricted it in others, notably, in construction and manufacturing.