Industrial injuries in British manufacturing industry

This paper begitis by cotisidering the effects of the business cycle upon the incidence of industrial accidents in British manufacturing industries, arguing that a generalized discussion of such cycles obscures important aspects of the political economy within individual cycles. In particular, the strength of the labour movement is related to the incidence of accidents at work. Since the trade unions are only one part of the tripartite system of the legal regulation of safety in British manufacturing industries, the paper goes on to consider the effects of recent material and ideological initiatives on the part of both the government and employers upon the ability of the Health and Safety Executive in general and the Factory Inspectorate in particular, to fulfil their role in this tripartite system of self-regulation. As a result of weakened trade unions and emasculated regulatory agencies, it is argued that there has been a virtual demise of this system of self-regulation. While the analysis outlined does not suggest that this demise is causal of the decline in safety performance across much of British manufacturing industry in the present decade, the paper does argue that the role of the law and its (non) implementation is not an insignificant factor in explaining this decline.     

Negative affectivity and gender as moderators of the relationship between work-related stressors and depressed mood at work

The present study provided further evidence on the role of negative affectivity (NA) and gender as moderators of stressor-strain relations. Based on theoretical and empirical research, it was hypothesized that the moderating effects of NA would moderate the relationship between stressors (role ambiguity, workload, role conflict and interpersonal conflict) and work-related depression. Questionnaires were returned form 442 subjects of whom 74% were recruited from external degree courses and the rest were full-time employees. Results revealed significant three-way interactions for two of the four stressors (workload and role ambiguity) in predicting work-related depression. NA moderated the relationship between these stressors and work-related depression for females but not for males. These effects were modest, however. No significant interactions were found for role conflict and interpersonal conflict. The implications of these results are discssed.     

Domestic Violence Service Providers’ Needs and Perceptions of Technology: A Qualitative Study

There is growing recognition of the need to better understand the intersections between the work of domestic violence service providers and technology. Professionals who work with clients impacted by domestic violence are increasingly using technologies across different aspects of their work, including communicating with other professionals and seeking information and resources via the Internet. The current study used qualitative data from two sources—individual interviews and two focus groups—to learn about domestic violence service providers’ needs and perceptions related to technology use. The results provide insights about technologies used currently, expected benefits of future technological advances, barriers to using technology, and participants’ self-rated levels of comfort with technology.     

Informed consent for research on stored blood and tissue samples: a survey of institutional review board practices

Numerous position papers have outlined informed consent recommendations for the collection, storage, and future use of biological samples; however, there currently is no consensus regarding what kinds of information should be included in consent forms. This study aimed to determine whether institutional review boards (IRBs) vary in their informed consent requirements for research on stored biological samples, and whether any variation observed could be correlated to factors such as volume of work, IRB members' familiarity with ethical issues in genetic research, and IRBs' use of either of two policy guidelines as resources. A brief survey was mailed to all IRB chairpersons on a mailing list obtained from the Office for Human Research Protections. Survey questions included whether consent forms for the collection of biological samples for future use address each of six provisions recommended in current guidelines and position statements, and whether IRBs used the Office for Protection from Research Risks' 1993 Protecting Human Research Subjects: Institutional Review Board Guidebook, chapter 5 (hereinafter IRB Guidebook) or the National Bioethics Advisory Commission's 1999 Research Involving Human Biological Materials: Ethical Issues and Policy Guidance, Volume I (hereinafter Report) in their deliberations. Despite a low response rate (22%, 427 respondents), results indicate that IRB practices vary substantially. The degree to which the provisions were included in consent forms was found to correlate positively with IRBs that review a greater volume of protocols annually, those that use the National Bioethics Advisory Commission Report in their deliberations, and those that draw on both the Report and the IRB Guidebook.     

Integrating psychometric and cultural theory approaches to formulate an alternative measure of risk perception

Psychometric and cultural theory are key approaches used to explain risk perceptions. However, both approaches explain only 20 and 5–10% of the variance of risk perceptions, respectively. Through advances in social psychology, terror management theory revealed that certain survey questions used in the psychometric approach primed thoughts of death. Such unintentional priming evoked defense mechanisms that would subconsciously activate participants’ cultural biases and values when answering some questions but not others. There are two implications: one, psychometric theorists need to modify their questionnaires to reduce the incidence of priming thoughts of death; and two, integrating the psychometric and cultural theory approaches may potentially explain a higher amount of variance in risk perceptions. Specifically, attitudes (psychometric approach), demographics, affect and past behavior collectively influence cultural biases, which in turn exert an effect on risk perception. However, such a model calls for an appropriate measure of the dynamic nature of cultural biases that current attitudinal measures fall short of. Drawing from methodology within industrial/organizational psychology, the Situational Judgment Test (SJT) is proposed as an alternative measure for risk perception. Steps to designing an SJT are outlined and followed through to culminate in a 10-item SJT that measures cultural biases.     

The Relationship of Adaptive and Maladaptive Behaviour to Social Outcomes for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities

The purpose of this study is to examine social outcomes including social interaction opportunities and self-expression, and how they relate to other quality of life indicators. These indicators include the overall assessment of adaptive skills, and the frequency and severity of challenging behaviour. The social interaction opportunities measured in this research include family contact, hours of habilitation, community outings, hours of employment and hours of education. Self-expression refers to the extent to which the individuals assessed indicated liking and choosing what they do in their everyday lives. The data utilised in this study were obtained from personal interviews from 3781 individuals with developmental disabilities and their caregivers. Interviewers received extensive training prior to conducting the assessments. The results indicate that people with higher adaptive ability had more contact with their families, received fewer hours of habilitation, were reported to participate in community outings more frequently, worked more hours and spent fewer hours in education. These significant correlations, however, were of marginal strength. Overall, the frequency and severity of challenging behaviour were not associated with the social interaction opportunities assessed in this study.