When work comes home: technology-related pressure and home support

Given the prevalence of workers bringing work home, issues arising from this practice are a central concern of human resource development (HRD) researchers and practitioners. This study investigates factors related to home boundary permeability (the extent to which one’s home domain is interrupted by work-related matters). Specifically, we examine the impact of technology-related pressure on home boundary permeability, and test both positive and negative consequences of home boundary permeability, along with the role of home support. Based on quantitative data from 267 full-time employees in the Midwestern United States, we found technology-related pressure predicted home boundary permeability, even after accounting for a person’s preference for work–home segmentation. Our findings suggest that high home boundary permeability may be a double-edged sword as it was significantly associated with both greater work-to-home conflict and positive spillover. Further, home support was found to play a buffering role in the relationship between home boundary permeability and work-to-home conflict. Suggestions for how HRD and management practitioners can help employees achieve a healthy balance between work and home are offered.     

The journey from pain to power: A meta-ethnography on women’s experiences of vaginal birth after caesarean

Background

Vaginal birth after caesarean can be a safe and satisfying option for many women who have had a previous caesarean, yet rates of vaginal birth after caesarean remain low in the majority of countries. Exploring women’s experiences of vaginal birth after caesarean can improve health practitioners’ understanding of the factors that facilitate or hinder women in the journey to have a vaginal birth after caesarean.

Moral Schemas in Articulation and Intuition: How Religious People Evaluate Human Reproductive Genetic Technologies

As new and more effective human reproductive genetic technologies (RGTs) rapidly develop, religious voices remain an important part of public discussion about the moral standing of such technologies. Here, we compare how individuals from different religious traditions evaluate disease RGTs (detecting genetic diseases in vitro) when compared to enhancement RGTs, allowing parents to select features of a child. Findings are gleaned from analysis of 270 interviews with individuals from 23 Christian, Muslim, and Jewish religious organizations, with supporting data from a national survey of more than 10,000 Americans. We find that respondents engage in clearly defined discursive moral reasoning to evaluate the propriety of disease RGTs while moral intuitions manifest themselves in responses to enhancement RGTs. We argue that schemas provide resources for moral discourses while also shaping moral intuitions expressed through emotions. Our results have implications for how religious people respond to new technologies when their institutional and denominational structures do not have readily discernable moral frameworks to guide responses.     

Childhood adversity,adult homelessness and the intergenerational transmission of risk: a population‐representative study of individuals in households with children

This study tested for associations between childhood adversity, adult homelessness and contexts of developmental risk in households with children. Data were drawn from the 2010 Washington State Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, representative of the population of Washington State residents. Considering adults in households with children, those who experienced higher levels of childhood adversity were more likely to have experienced homelessness in adulthood. Meanwhile, a 10‐factor index of cumulative developmental risk was independently associated with childhood adversity and with adult homelessness. Adult homelessness appears to represent a circumstance through which past childhood adversities are brought forward and associated with contexts of developmental risk for subsequent generations of children.     

THE IMPACT OF HUMAN ERROR ON DELIVERING SERVICE QUALITY

This paper opens a new avenue for investigation of quality issues in services. We take the viewpoint that a substantial portion of service failures is the result of human error in the delivery process. Drawing upon the Generic Error Modeling System (gems) from the cognitive science literature, we develop a framework for understanding the role of human error in service failures. An empirical investigation assesses the applicability of this framework to services, identifies which error mechanisms are important sources of service failure, and clarifies how the different roles of customers and providers affect the errors made by each.     

Women's provisioning work: counting the cost for women living on low income

This paper reports on a research project that uses the concept of provisioning as a starting place in understanding the activities women in marginalized communities undertake to provide for themselves and members of their households and neighborhoods. This project explores the household and collective provisioning undertaken by women who are all part of formal community organizations in Canada. The work women do is explored from the dimension of women's relationships of responsibility. This vantage point uncovers a complex web of activity including paid employment, voluntary work, care work, exchanges of goods and services, community work, and self-provisioning. In addition, the provisioning strategies that women use when public resources are scarce are explored. In the face of significant cutbacks in public provision of goods and services, women are engaging in a complex network of activities in order to compensate through private provisioning for resources that are no longer available through public provisioning. The policy context in which these strategies are pursued is explored as well as the way in which risky policies produce risky coping strategies.     

Best practices for physical activity programs and behavior counseling in older adult populations

Physical activity offers one of the greatest opportunities for people to extend years of active independent life and reduce functional limitations. The article identifies key practices for promoting physical activity in older adults, with a focus on those with chronic disease or low fitness and those with low levels of physical activity. Key practices identified: (a) A multidimensional activity program that includes endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility training is optimal for health and functional benefits; (b) principles of behavior change including social support, self-efficacy, active choices, health contracts, assurances of safety, and positive reinforcement enhance adherence; (c) manage risk by beginning at low intensity but gradually increasing to moderate physical activity, which has a better risk:benefit ratio and should be the goal for older adults; (d) an emergency procedure plan is prudent for community-based programs; and (e) monitoring aerobic intensity is important for progression and motivation. Selected content review of physical activity programming from major organizations and institutions is provided.