Importance of active listening in treating workers with musculoskeletal disorders

Abstract

Female assembly workers reporting constant neck and shoulder pain, despite ergonomically acceptable working conditions, were interviewed. As a starting point in the interviews, the patients were asked to describe their general situation at work. Their reports were fed back and discussed with company management in a wider group meeting and resulted in an improvement in their attitudes to those workers. A climate of confidence and well-being was created, which the women experienced as genuine. The workers' report of pains improved dramatically and absence due to musculoskeletal disorders was reduced by more than 90% during the following year.     

Beyond Triangulation: Reconstructing Mandela’s Writing Life through Propulsive Facilitation at the Archive

Qualitative Sociology - Multimethod studies generally fall under what are referred to as “confirmatory” or “complementary” approaches. Yet in addition to these two...     

AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF KIN AND ETHNIC FAVORITISM

Ethnic and kinship ties have long been viewed as potential catalysts for favoritism, and hence corruption. In experiments conducted in three countries, we recruit siblings, coethnics and strangers and vary the relationship(s) between the players of a game to observe how kin and ethnic ties influence the willingness of two players to benefit one another at the expense of a third party. We see universal sibling favoritism, but ethnic favoritism, and favoritism toward other in-group members (friends) varies. We argue this may be driven in part by kinship institutions, since favoritism is more common in societies with denser kin networks. ( JEL D9, C9, D73, J12)     

GRIND OR GAMBLE? AN EXPERIMENT ON EFFORT AND SPREAD SEEKING IN CONTESTS

We conduct a contest experiment to study if spread seeking and effort can be managed when participants can invest in increasing both the mean and the spread of an uncertain performance variable. Subjects are treated with different prize schemes and in accordance with theory, we observe higher investments in spread for the winner-take-all scheme. Both types of investments can be controlled with a three-level prize scheme. However, the control management is imperfect and behavior is characterized by inertia. We also explore the correlation between effort and spread across subjects and find that is robustly positive.     

COMMUNITY AND CARE WORK IN A WORLD OF CHANGING IDEOLOGIES

Seymour B. Sarason, one of the founders of community psychology, has stated the need for developing barometers of community changes. The authors present a methodology for identifying societal ideologies, ideological shifts and power relations as reflected by the language of public discourse. As a case study, systematic analyses of changes in the Norwegian language over the last two decades are presented. It is demonstrated how Norwegian society has been gradually transformed from a traditional Scandinavian welfare society towards the values and ideals of neo-liberalist market ideology: for instance, language reflects and supports competitive practices increasingly being applied to public service provision. Another example is that the public discourse of individual rights has gradually been overshadowing the discourse of community duties and obligations. On the other hand, the analyses also reveal counter-ideologies, reflected, for example, in the launching of new words and expressions critical to neo-liberalist ideology.     

Beyond GDP: Using Equivalent Incomes to Measure Well-Being in Europe

It has become widely accepted that focusing exclusively on income growth may lead to a too narrow-sighted measure of changes in well-being. People care about other dimensions of life, such as their health, employment, social interactions and personal safety. Moreover, an exclusive focus on income growth remains blind to the distribution of income and well-being in the society. We propose therefore a set of five principles for a richer measure of well-being. In particular, we advocate the use of a measure based on “equivalent incomes”, which satisfies these principles. We discuss and illustrate how this equivalent income approach can be implemented in Europe, using the ESS data for 2008 and 2010. We find that introducing inequality aversion and including other dimensions in the analysis leads to a remarkably different perspective on the growth of well-being in Europe.     

Effectiveness of persuasive frames in advocacy videos

Using a three-condition, between-subjects experimental design (N = 152), this study investigates the persuasive effects of fear and humor in nonprofit advocacy-style videos. Findings indicate both fear and humor positively affect a behavioral willingness to change behaviors. Mediation analysis of the antecedent variables in the theory of planned behavior model also revealed significant indirect effects of each form of appeal through attitudes. Findings advance current conceptual and practical understanding of the persuasive power of nonprofit advocacy-style videos.     

Superior Sporting Performance in Athletics: Determinants and Sustainability

The article aims to contribute to the understanding of competitive dynamics and specialization in international sport by analyzing superior sporting performance (SSP) in international athletics in the period from 1999 to 2018. By applying iterative Kolmogorov‐Smirnov tests to annual bests, the study examines national SSPs. Contrary to theoretical considerations, less specialized countries are more likely to achieve SSP. Technical entry barriers and macrosocial factors also appear to play a limited role. SSP seems not to disappear due to increased international competition. The United States and Russia are identified as “sporting super powers,” able to persistently dominate a number of disciplines. The case of Russia poses fundamental questions concerning market distortions in international sport resulting from doping. The results come with substantial policy implications.