Barriers to evidence based practice in accommodations for an aging workforce

According to a recent Government Accountability Office report, the number of workers over age 55 is projected to increase significantly over the next twenty years, with this demographic group projected to comprise as much as twenty percent of the workforce by 2015 [12]. Accommodating the functional limitations of a large number of older workers may prove challenging for employers; however, policies and practices shaped over the course of the next few decades could allow aging workers to remain a valuable part of the US economy. Given these considerations, it is useful from a public policy perspective to determine the degree to which employers are currently addressing the accommodation needs of older workers. This paper presents the results of a study that attempted to determine the extent to which a sample of Fortune 500 employers was currently accommodating older workers. The study's methodology (in particular, its use of semi-structured telephone interviews) is reevaluated and new options (such as anonymous online employer surveys) are considered for the valid and reliable collection of data on accommodations for older workers.     

Implications of Overwork and Overload for the Quality of Men's Family Relationships

This study examined the implications of men's long work hours and role overload for the quality of their relationships with their wives and their firstborn (M= 15 years) and secondborn adolescent offspring (M= 12.5 years) in a sample of 190 dual‐earner families. Holding constant men's occupational self‐direction and level of education, long hours were related to less time spent with the wife but were unrelated to spouses' love, perspective‐taking, or conflict; high levels of role overload consistently predicted less positive marital relationships. In contrast, the combination of long hours and high overload was consistently associated with less positive father‐adolescent relationships, a pattern that was similar for older and younger adolescents and for sons and daughters.     

Precaution and liquidity in the demand for housing

We exploit cross-sectional mortgage data to investigate the importance of liquidity constraints and a precautionary motive in the demand for housing. Households that are not liquidity constrained consume housing services essentially as the life cycle hypothesis suggests but with a significant precautionary component. Households that are liquidity constrained, in terms of not meeting standard loan-to-value or payments-to-income constraints, are similar to unconstrained households in most respects, including the precautionary motive, but they respond somewhat less to fluctuations in their lifetime income - suggesting some influence of bank-induced liquidity constraints. We additionally find, however, that banks enforce liquidity constraints only weakly.     

Military-civilian differences in a driving under the influence (DUI) program sample

ABSTRACT

It is unknown how military-connected participants in DUI programs differ from civilians on sociodemographic, health, and alcohol severity factors. This study analyzed data from 19,639 DUI program participants from 2009 to 2014. Compared to civilians, active duty participants were younger, more likely male and married/partnered or separated, less likely disabled, more likely to be Black, less likely to report anxiety or involvement in domestic violence, more likely to report prior alcohol treatment and having a first-time conviction, and less likely to score in the problematic drinking category. Veterans showed patterns similar to those of active duty with some notable exceptions. Results may be helpful in tailoring culturally competent DUI program content, particularly among social workers who often serve this population.     

Is there support for curvilinear relationships between psychosocial work characteristics and mental well-being? Cross-sectional and long-term data from the Whitehall II study

This study aimed to test whether curvilinearity would add explanatory power to the long-term relationships between job characteristics and mental well-being. The study was based on cross-sectional and longitudinal data from phases 3 and 5 of the Whitehall II sample (N=4154 for job satisfaction and 6000 for context-free mental well-being, mean follow-up 5.8 years). The curvilinear components of the job characteristics were introduced after controlling for the baseline outcome measure, demographic factors, and the linear measures of the job characteristics. The cross-sectional analyses showed only a curvilinear association with the expected U-shape between job demands and context-free mental well-being. The longitudinal analyses showed no curvilinear relationships between the job characteristics and context-free mental well-being. While small non-linear relationships were found between social support and decision latitude and job-related mental well-being, the shape of these relationships was the reverse of that expected. Post hoc analyses revealed that only the positive segment of the relationship between decision latitude and job satisfaction was significant, while both segments of the relationship between social support and job satisfaction were significant. The findings from this study, based on a large sample with high variety in working conditions, provide little support for the assumption of curvilinearity in the long-term relationship between psychosocial working conditions and mental well-being. This has practical implications, as if associations are linear this would indicate that it would be reasonable to take a population (rather than individually targeted) approach to stress management interventions.     

Work-related stress,coping resources,and heavy drinking in the restaurant business

Abstract

This study aimed to test whether curvilinearity would add explanatory power to the long-term relationships between job characteristics and mental well-being. The study was based on cross-sectional and longitudinal data from phases 3 and 5 of the Whitehall II sample (N=4154 for job satisfaction and 6000 for context-free mental well-being, mean follow-up 5.8 years). The curvilinear components of the job characteristics were introduced after controlling for the baseline outcome measure, demographic factors, and the linear measures of the job characteristics. The cross-sectional analyses showed only a curvilinear association with the expected U-shape between job demands and context-free mental well-being. The longitudinal analyses showed no curvilinear relationships between the job characteristics and context-free mental well-being. While small non-linear relationships were found between social support and decision latitude and job-related mental well-being, the shape of these relationships was the reverse of that expected. Post hoc analyses revealed that only the positive segment of the relationship between decision latitude and job satisfaction was significant, while both segments of the relationship between social support and job satisfaction were significant. The findings from this study, based on a large sample with high variety in working conditions, provide little support for the assumption of curvilinearity in the long-term relationship between psychosocial working conditions and mental well-being. This has practical implications, as if associations are linear this would indicate that it would be reasonable to take a population (rather than individually targeted) approach to stress management interventions.     

Policies and programmes to end homelessness in Australia: Learning from international practice

Parsell C, Jones A, Head B. Policies and programmes to end homelessness in Australia: Learning from international practice. Many welfare states throughout the industrialised world have recently implemented policies to achieve targeted reductions in homelessness. These policy and welfare initiatives differ across national contexts. They are similar, however, in moving away from social programmes that have essentially ‘managed homelessness’ towards interventions that seek to permanently end homelessness. Australia has recently adopted similar homelessness policy objectives. This article examines the manner in which Australian homelessness policy has been converging with international policy directions. More specifically, the article scrutinises Australian social programmes adopted from the UK and USA as a means to achieve strategic goals of reducing homelessness. It argues that although Australian homelessness policy objectives are converging with international policy, Australian programmes modelled on international successes do not have some of the elements shown elsewhere to be crucial for achieving sustainable reductions in homelessness. This may become central to explaining programme outcomes in future years. Key Practitioner Message: ?Strategies aimed at permanently ending homelessness represent a significant shift to contemporary professional practice;?Homelessness programmes internationally are now characterised by their branding or identification with evidence‐based models;?It is important to critically scrutinise these models, examining their core elements and the manner in which they are appropriated and incorporated across jurisdictions.     

Marketing for women in management

Participating successfully in the Single European Market as in any other competitive business situation depends on an adequate supply of managerial and specialist skills.Together with the issue of recognising, employing and integrating women experts and executives as a highly qualified resource, a strategic approach is established for managing personnel. Five steps towards a marketing strategy for women — as well as men — employees are discussed.     

A review of inflation accounting and its economic implications

The purposes of this paper are firstly to identify the problems which inflation creates in the context of conventional accounting methods, secondly to consider the alternative forms of inflation accounting which have been proposed, thirdly to look in more detail at the particular method which is to be adopted in the UK, and finally to consider the effects which that method will have on company results and on broader economic issues.