Enhancing the Efficacy and Empowerment of Older Adults Through Group Formation

ABSTRACT

Research suggests that efficacy and empowerment are necessary for social engagement and that a sense of efficacy and empowerment exerts positive influences on older adults. However, little is known about how individual efficacy and empowerment are affected by group efficacy and empowerment in later life. To assess the impact of group involvement on the individual, the authors conducted a follow-up study with members of an art guild for older adults. Qualitative data were collected in 1997 and 2001 to ascertain the members' perceptions of group goals and accomplishments, membership benefits, the effect on the community, societal views about older adults, and the impact of group activities on the individual. The results clearly indicated that collective efficacy and empowerment through social engagement were beneficial to members as individuals and as a group, and contributed to well-being through a general sense of accomplishment and pride.     

Readiness to change, partner violence subtypes, and treatment outcomes among men in treatment for partner assault

Men court-mandated to attend a batterer's intervention program (BIP) were evaluated to determine whether pre-BIP readiness to change and the presence of partner violence subtypes predicted BIP completion, criminal recidivism, and postadjudication partner violence 6 months post-BIP. Of the 199 subject sample, 40% did not complete BIP. Four readiness-to-change clusters were found, with most men (76%) reporting change-resistant stages-of-change profiles. The partner violence typology reported by Holtzworth-Munroe et al. (2000) was supported with clustering into four subtypes: family only (FO), low-level antisocial (LLA), borderline/dysphoric (BD), and generally violent/antisocial (GVA). BIP completion was predicted by violence subtype (with BD and GVA more likely to drop out) but not by pre-BIP readiness to change. Men rearrested scored higher on the precontemplative stage of change and were more likely to be in the BD and GVA subtypes. Implications for counseling strategies are discussed.     

Job tenure as a moderator of stressor–strain relations: A comparison of experienced and new-start teachers

Abstract

Few studies have investigated the extent to which the effects of work stressors on strain change over the duration of employees’ job incumbencies. Drawing on Karasek's (1979) job demands-control-support model, the current study examined the moderating influence of job tenure (experienced versus novice worker status) on stressor-strain relations. Using a sample of 422 experienced and 248 beginning schoolteachers in Australia, job factors and job strain were assessed on two occasions, 8 months apart. Analyses revealed that the three job factors were each correlated with strain as predicted, although the (elusive) demands×control interaction effect was evidenced amongst “new-start” teachers only. The findings provide mixed support for Karasek's model, and draw attention to the need to consider the role of job tenure and career stage in studies of work stress, as work stressor-strain effects may be routinely underestimated in research that ignores these factors.     

Self-Solicited Feedback: Effects of Hourly Pay and Individual Monetary Incentive Pay

The frequency of feedback solicitation under hourly pay and individual monetary incentive pay conditions was examined. A between-subjects design was used with 30 college students in the two groups. Participants attended three experimental sessions and entered the cash value of simulated bank checks presented on a computer screen. Performance was higher for individuals who were paid incentives; however, participants who were paid incentives did not self-solicit feedback more than those who were paid hourly. Rather, participants in both groups solicited feedback quite frequently. Additionally, performance was not related to feedback solicitation. These results suggest that the incentives did not make feedback more reinforcing even though the incentives were functional rewards and the feedback was correlated with the amount of pay earned: the better the feedback, the more pay participants earned. The results also support the position that it may be necessary to pair objective feedback with an evaluative component to enhance performance.     

Enhancing the efficacy and empowerment of older adults through group formation

Research suggests that efficacy and empowerment are necessary for social engagement and that a sense of efficacy and empowerment exerts positive influences on older adults. However, little is known about how individual efficacy and empowerment are affected by group efficacy and empowerment in later life. To assess the impact of group involvement on the individual, the authors conducted a follow-up study with members of an art guild for older adults. Qualitative data were collected in 1997 and 2001 to ascertain the members' perceptions of group goals and accomplishments, membership benefits, the effect on the community, societal views about older adults, and the impact of group activities on the individual. The results clearly indicated that collective efficacy and empowerment through social engagement were beneficial to members as individuals and as a group, and contributed to well-being through a general sense of accomplishment and pride.     

DETERMINING THE APPROPRIATE DISCOUNT RATES IN PURE CAPITAL RATIONING

This paper proposes an interpretation of the pure capital rationing problem as it is faced by many managers in decentralized firms in which budgets serve as the principal means of control. It is argued that the appropriate objective for situations such as these is the maximization of either undiscounted earnings over the planning horizon or total value of the investments at the horizon. When either objective function is used in conjunction with the frequently encountered linear programming models for the capital rationing problem, shadow prices result which give rise to discount rates that will reproduce the optimal solution using discounted cash flow as a criterion. These results are then used as a means for clarifying several confusing and misleading statements that have appeared in the literature.     

CHANGES IN FEMALE ENTRY TO TRADE TRAINING IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA

This study examines whether there were significant changes in the entry of young women to trade training in South Australia as a result of equal opportunities policies and initiatives to change the means of entry to trade training. It surveys the period 1981 to 1984 because that, like the present, was a period of change in education and training arrangements. It looks at women's hold on places in pre-vocational courses and apprenticeships in the most male-dominated trade areas and examines in detail the outcomes of the first three Introduction to Trades for Young Women courses in 1982 and 1983. It concludes that they led to only a slight improvement in female participation in trade training. The difficulties these courses faced in articulating with both student income support policies and the selection procedures for pre-vocational courses are discussed. The study demonstrates a marginal increase in the numbers of female apprentices outside hairdressing between 1981 and 1984 and evidence of weak commitment to an effective equal opportunities policy. A brief comparison is made between the situation at the beginning and end of the decade. This suggests that female participation in the most male-dominated trades areas in South Australia was generally lower than the Australian average in those areas, an outcome which must open to question the policy commitment to change.     

A Preliminary Study of the Role of Attunement in Adult Psychotherapy

This paper presents the results of a preliminarystudy on the recognition of affect attunement in adultpsychotherapy. Brief extracts from six videotapedtherapy sessions were shown to experienced clinicians, who were asked to judge whether the therapistwas attuned to the client/patient or not. Clear examplesof attunement and non-attunement were obtained and thesewere then shown to a sample of postgraduate social work trainees. The trainee resultsshowed none of the consistency of the cliniciansjudgments: 67% (n = 21) were undecided about the exampleof attunement, with only 19.3% (n = 6) giving responses which corresponded with those of theclinicians. For the non-attuned extract, just over athird gave a response which coincided with theclinicians, with 42% (n = 13) undecided. The resultswere used to develop a model for future research on affectattunement, which should provide the basis for thedevelopment of strategies for teaching the attunementskills which may be required by therapists.