Examination of Interest Inventories Based on Roe's Classification

This article describes the adaptation of two interest inventories translated into English, based on Roe's (1956) classification of occupations. In an analysis based on the responses of 181 participants, the items followed the 6 rules for interest inventory items formulated by Meir and Gati (1981). The Cronbach alpha reliability of the 8 field scores in the 2 inventories ranged between .73 and .91. A Smallest Space Analysis (SSA) on 8 field scores on the Ramak, 8 field scores on the Courses and 6 personality type scores on Holland's (1973) Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) supported the construct validity of the inventories.     

Comprehensive Interests Measurement in Counseling for Congruence

This article suggests that counselors measure vocational interests by using three interest inventories: the Ramak Interest Inventory, the Courses Interest Inventory, and the Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1985). Some implications from studies on (a) vocational congruence, (b) environmental congruence, (c) the structure of occupational fields and (d) within-occupation congruence are discussed. Five defense mechanisms for clients who happen to be in an incongruent occupation or environment are presented.     

Accuracy of the College Majors Finder for Three Majors

The Self-Directed Search was administered to 68 university seniors who were majoring in Chemistry/Chemical Engineering, Elementary Education, and Office Administration. Their resulting three-letter summary codes were compared with three-letter college major codes obtained from the College Majors Finder. A high degree of agreement between the two sets of codes was found for each of the three majors. Effective methods for matching people to jobs have held the interest and occupied much time for career counselors and vocational theorists since the inception of the trait-factor approach to career counseling. More recently, Holland (1985a) broadened and clarified matching procedures through the development of his typological theory of vocational choice. Just as personality types and occupational environments have been organized using Holland's framework to foster an understanding of occupational choice, Holland's theory can also be used to explain other types of choices, such as choice of a college major.     

“A Little More Than Kin,and Less Than Kind”: Basic Interests in Vocational Research and Career Counseling

The history of basic interests helps explain their under-use as a meaningful dimension in the interpretation of career inventories. Research and reflection support new attention to basic interests for four reasons: (a) basic interests may be more optimal cognitive categories than other levels of classification, (b) the RIASEC arrangement of general occupational types may not adequately represent the complexity of the interest space, (c) the interest space itself may be differently conceptualized by men and by women, and (d) the realities of work in this technological era are fundamentally different than they were when occupational inventories such as the Strong Interest Inventory? (Campbell, 1977) were designed.     

The state and use of municipal tree inventories in Swedish municipalities – results from a national survey

Urban trees are an essential component of urban ecosystems, and management of this resource constitutes an essential element of urban open space management. However, municipal tree inventories in Sweden and elsewhere have received limited attention. It is unknown how common municipal tree inventories are in Sweden, factors governing whether a municipality has an inventory and what the inventories are used for. This study therefore sought to: Create an overview of the state of Swedish municipal tree inventories and determine how municipality size, green space budget and management organisation affect the presence and scope of municipal tree inventories. The research questions examined were: What is the current state of Swedish municipal tree inventories? and what affects the status of these municipal tree inventories? A survey with questions related to strategic and operational perspectives of municipal tree inventories, e.g. how they are conducted and used, together with questions relating to budget and potential use of consultants, was sent to all 290 Swedish municipalities. The response rate was 55.5%. The main findings were that municipality size affects whether a municipality has an urban tree inventory and that the municipal organisation form affects how inventories are used. The existence of an inventory also increased the probability of the municipality having a tree management plan. Based on these results we recommend further research related to strategic management perspectives of tree inventories.     

Using Profile Elevation to Increase the Usefulness of the Self‐Directed Search and Other Inventories

The authors explore the construct of profile elevation on interest inventories results. They speak to the need for career counselors to maximize their use of the interest inventory and how they can do that by properly interpreting profile elevation. Profile elevation is defined, and correlates of high and low profile elevation are presented. The common interpretive interaction that occurs between profile elevation and differentiation is explored. The authors also present a case of low profile elevation and the career counseling interventions and considerations used with the client.     

Job matching and return to work: Occupational rehabilitation as the link

Return to work after injury or illness is important for the worker and the employer. Medical providers manage and treat the worker with the illness or injury. Except in cases of focused specialists, the medical professional's role is to take care of a patient, rather than empower a worker. As much as there is promotion of the workers compensation health care system to be similar to sports medicine, there are significant dissimilarities. One major barrier is that the medical caregivers do not know the demands of jobs as they would know the details of sports. Thus, there is a gap in returning a worker to function as the medical professional cannot accurately match the worker to specific jobs. A new model of job function matching, based on research and skills of occupational rehabilitation professionals, is proposed to bridge the gap between the medical community, the employers and the workers.     

Three Decades of Interest Inventory Results: A Case Study

This article analyzes selected results of 4 Kuder Occupational Interest Surveys (KOIS; Kuder & Zytowski, 1991) administered over a 30-year span, in the light of the author's career as a counseling psychologist. Certain consistencies and changes are observed, leading to a conclusion supporting the “thematic” interpretation of interest inventory results rationalizing aspects of the author's occupational and avocational career.     

Relationships Among Middle‐School Adolescents' Vocational Skills,Motivational Approaches,and Interests

This study examined gender differences in relationships among vocational skills, motivational approaches, and same‐gender and cross‐gender interests for urban adolescents. Results showed gender differences in interests, with males having greater Realistic interests and females having greater Artistic and Social interests, based on Holland's (1997) theory of interest types. Structural equation modeling revealed that males tended to approach the occupational world with assertiveness, the desire to create opportunities, and the use of instrumental support. Females tended to approach the occupational world by being adaptable, capitalizing on their skills and abilities, actively preparing themselves for the future, exploring options, and using emotional support. Recommendations for career development practice are provided.     

A STUDY OF AUTOMOBILE INVENTORY INVESTMENT

The volatile fluctuations in automobile inventory levels are explained well by the stock-adjustment model estimated in this paper on monthly time-series data. In contrast to the findings of most previous inventory studies, fluctuations in financial inventory carrying costs (as measured by a service cost of capital) are found to influence the target auto stocks in both a statistically significant and economically important manner. Also, the speed-of-adjustment of automobile inventories to their target level is estimated to be relatively fast, about thirty percent per month.     

Horizontale und vertikale Adäquanz im Anschluss an die betriebliche Ausbildung in Deutschland

Graduates of the German dual system of vocational education and training differ in their chances of directly entering horizontally and vertically matching labour market positions. This article discusses how structural characteristics of training occupations impact such differences. I focus on three characteristics: the average training costs, the degree of occupational closure and how broadly applicable the qualifications are. Using data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), I analyse the first labour market position for individuals who graduated from apprenticeship training between 1974 and 2004 in West Germany. I develop measures for occupational characteristics based on data from the BIBB Cost Benefit Studies and the BIBB/IAB Employment Surveys and merge these measures with the individual-level data. Applying multinomial logistic regression models, I simultaneously analyse the influence of the occupational characteristics on the probability to find employment in the first place and to reach horizontally and vertically matching positions. The results show that the occupational characteristics provide different opportunities within the training occupation but also within other occupations. The article, thus, helps us understand how occupational characteristics structure individual labour market chances and sheds light on the long-term consequences of unequal access to training occupations.     

Career Counseling From the Counselee Perspective: Analysis of Feedback Questionnaires

The effectiveness of career counseling as perceived by counselees was measured using evaluation questionnaires. The results showed that 75% of the respondents rated the career counseling they received as satisfactory. A systematic difference was found between satisfaction with counseling as a result of the enhancement of the counselees' personal understanding and satisfaction as a result of the assistance they perceived in decision making. Respondents were more positive concerning their gains in self-understanding than about the help they felt they were given in arriving at a career decision. On the average, counselees rated discussions with the counselor as more important in counseling than were objective tests, interest inventories or vocational information. Respondents who reported that counseling helped them in both their personal and career problems were more satisfied than those who reported being helped solely in either their personal problems or their career decisions. The theoretical and practical implications of these results for career counseling are discussed.     

90后工科大学生职业兴趣的特点分析

采用霍兰德职业兴趣倾向量表对442名工科大学生的调查表明,工科大学生总体的职业兴趣倾向为SEI,即社会型、经营型、研究型,这与专业发展要求有些偏离。其职业兴趣不存在显著的年级差异,但存在显著的性别和专业差异。     

OPTIMAL INVENTORIES: THE SQUARE ROOT RULE AND PROFIT MAXIMIZATION

Inventory models are usually based on the existence of transaction costs and explain inventories from efficiency considerations alone. The simplest model involves a "square root rule" where inventory varies with the square root of its determinants. Accounting for profit maximizing behavior relaxes those rigid results and alters their interpretation. The analysis integrates inventory demand theory with the neoclassical theory of the firm and industry.     

MONEY SUPPLY VARIABILITY IN A MACRO MODEL OF MONOPOLISTIC COMPETITION

The effects of changes in money supply variability are examined for a macro model of monopolistic competition. Increases in money supply variability raise demand uncertainty causing individual firms to produce more for inventory. In addition, expected profits decrease, inducing a number of firms to leave the economy. Aggregate income then falls in spite of an increase in firm-level production. The result on aggregate income is standard, but the results on inventories and the number of firms in the economy distinguish this monopolistic macro model empirically from conventional macro models when changes in money supply variability occur.     

Congruence and Coherence as Predictors of Congruent Employment Outcomes

Four diagnostic signs derived from Holland's (1985a) theory of vocational personalities and occupational environments were evaluated for their ability to predict personality-environment congruence in a sample of 87 employed persons with special needs. Participants, 40% of whom were female, had an average age of 35.6 years. The diagnostic signs were employment congruence, aspirational congruence, employment coherence, and aspirational coherence, all measured during an initial assessment. The outcome was personality-environment congruence in a job held 15 months after the initial assessment. Employment congruence was found to be the best predictor of future personality-environment congruence. Employment coherence was also predictive of future personality-environment congruence, and aspirational congruence was correlated with the latter. The clinical and research implications of the findings were discussed.     

Logistics reorganization and management of the ambulatory pharmacy of a local health unit in Portugal

The Hospital Pharmacy of a Local Health Unit (LHU) in greater Oporto plays a major role in the community. In addition to providing medicines to the entire Internal Unit, it has created a service called "Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy", which allows continued hospital treatments at home, in a more comfortable and familiar environment. This is mostly due uderfunding which has hindered recruitment of health professionals as well a growing concern for the comfort of patients as they convalesce. The Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy’s main problems are both recurring stock-outs and over-stocks; the fact that medicines’s delivery routes are not completed, and that medical staff lacks awareness of the techniques to overcome the logistic issues involved. As a methodology, a context analysis was carried out, KPI's were created to quantify the problems and raise health professionals’ awareness of what was happening. Solutions for storage were analysed and visits were made to a central hospital to analyse the solutions adopted to solve the same problems. The most appropriate inventory management policies were considered for the organization of existing and further resources. We chose to create an Advanced Warehouse with Level Replenishment. The levels were defined considering the demand of each medicine and divided into three different classes to use the best strategy for each type of demand. Then, and with the help of the LHU IT team, the inventory management module of the information system was parameterized, so stock replenishment could be done electronically. All these changes resulted in a 30 % reduction in stock-out. At the beginning of the study, stock-outs would reach peaks of 6 %. These were reduced to 4.5 % at a point at which professionals were already more aware of the logistic problem, and finally to 1.5 %, in the final phase, at a time when the proposal had already been implemented. Over-stock was reduced by 66 %. Delivery routes were stipulated, and compliance was verified. A novel service developed to increase the well-being of patients monitored at home which it is intended to improve the service provided to the users and at the same time reduce operational costs.As a contribution to the knowledge, in addition to the case study presented to be a novelty in terms of scientific articles published because it is a service implemented in the distribution of medications to patients at home, mostly with oncologic diseases. Several methods from Lean Thinking were used, such as, Kanban System and Advanced Warehouse for inventory management levelling and optimization techniques, as well as, operational KPIs, with the purpose to reach out the improvement of program planning and evaluation. This approach resulted in some improvements, namely, the increase of the quality of the healthcare services for the population. And, in terms to reduce stock and excess stock-outs, to reduce inventory costs, setting the delivery routes, raising the entire medical team’s awareness of the problem and committing to optimization a reality.     

The Relationship Between Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Inventoried Vocational Interests

It has generally been assumed that a linear relationship exists between vocational interests and self-efficacy. Bandura (1986) suggested, however, that persons require some amount of reasonable challenge in activities to sustain their interest, and that the relationship of interest to self-efficacy thus may be curvilinear. This research extended and remedied previous literature and tested explicitly Bandura's concept of a threshold. Results suggest general support for a linear relationship between interest and self-efficacy (rs are .62–.68), although curvilinear self-efficacy terms contributed significantly to two of three regression equations. Contrary to predictions, plots suggest interest may be stable at lower levels of self-efficacy and may increase linearly at higher levels.     

Touch,compliance, and interpersonal affect

This study investigated the effects of touch on compliance to a help request. The experimenter's initiation of touch during the request did increase compliance as measured by time spent scoring bogus personality inventories. The hypothesized role of attraction in mediating the touch-compliance link was not supported. Instead, touch may have served to indicate status or power differences that influenced subjects to comply. A sex of subject × sex of experimenter interaction was manifested in female subjects complying more to female experimenters than did subjects in any other sex pairing.The authors would like to thank James Daly and Kay McIntyre for their help in conducting this study. Completion of this project was supported by Weldon Spring Research Grant from the University of Missouri to the first author.     

Occupational roles and life satisfaction in psychiatric outpatients with vocational disabilities

OBJECTIVES: To investigate: 1) internalization of occupational roles and 2) levels of satisfaction in psychiatric outpatients with vocational disability. STUDY DESIGN: Twenty subjects, 8 men and 12 women, aged 20-55, participated in the study. The past, present and expected values of 10 occupational roles were identified. Levels of satisfaction with life as whole and on eight different domains were reported on a six-step scale ranging from very dissatisfied to very satisfied. RESULTS: The student and worker roles were not part of current life, in contrast to the past (5 years ago) and the expected future. The roles of family member and home maintainer were the most appreciated both in the past and at present. All of the participants expected to add both number and level of role involvement in the future. No-one were satisfied with life as whole. All but one were dissatisfied with their vocational and financial situations. Most were also dissatisfied with their leisure situation, family life, partnership relations, sexual life, and contacts with friends. CONCLUSIONS: The low levels of satisfaction with life as whole and the different domains reflect the disadvantageous situation of the participants in the study. The low number of occupational roles and the low level of meaningful role involvement support the associations between occupational roles and life satisfaction. It is suggested that occupational role assessment would be an important focus in occupational therapy to help people to more adaptive daily routines and to improve their quality of life.