The Social Work Assessment Tool (SWAT)

This paper reports on the last of three National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization initiatives to move hospice and palliative care social workers into the patient/family outcomes arena: the development of the Social Work Assessment Tool. The experience of a team of practitioners and researchers is described, including results of two pilot studies and subsequent SWAT revisions. The major focus is on the current model performance improvement project, in which 19 social workers from 14 hospice and palliative care programs used the SWAT with 101 patients and 81 primary caregivers for a median of 44 days. Quantitative analysis indicated significant improvement in SWAT scores for patients from the first to the second social work visit (t = -2.60, df = 47, p .01). Qualitative interviewing of the social workers indicated some lack of readiness in the field to conduct quantitative outcomes measurement. Additional measures are needed in addition to the SWAT, including qualitative measures, and measures of mezzo and macro practice. Participants indicated that the SWAT was appropriate for use with economically and culturally diverse clients.     

Esports consumer perspectives on match-fixing: implications for gambling awareness and game integrity

This article examines consumer perspectives on match-fixing in esports – professionalized competitive video game play – and the implications of these perspectives for understanding game and gambling integrity. The relationship between match-fixing, game integrity and gambling is a close one, as gambling markets are reliant on strong game integrity, but has not yet been studied in detail in the context of esports. Drawing on extensive qualitative data collected from esports fans around the world, this article examines perceptions of gambling awareness, integrity and esports gambling to assess esports consumers’ awareness of and attitudes towards gambling-related match-fixing. Results indicate that esports viewers are not deeply concerned by match-fixing. In addition, spectators typically view gambling as a cause of corruption among competitors, but also understand and accept some elements of the practice. Further, spectators tend to rely on rules to determine their assessment of what is ‘wrong’, rather than assessments based on ethics, and are often willing to forgive infractions through a range of reasons and justifications. We propose a need for education among esports spectators, extending existing anti-cheating programmes beyond just athletes to include the broader esports community.     

Truth® ads,receptivity, and motivation to use or quit tobacco among college students

Abstract

Objective: Examine receptivity and motivation to use/quit tobacco among college students after viewing Truth ads. Participants: Random sample of 10,000 college students invited to complete online survey February 2016 (8.5% response rate). Methods: Quasi-experimental. Participants (N?=?854) watched four ads and answered survey items for each ad. Results: Students rated ad receptivity and decreased motivation to use tobacco higher for the Catmageddon ad than the others. Regardless of ad, men and current cigarette smokers reported lower receptivity. Younger age was associated with lower motivation to use tobacco for all ads. Tobacco users reported greater motivation to quit with the Catmageddon ad. Conclusions: College students were receptive to the Truth ads, and many indicated lower motivation to use tobacco. Men, older college students, and current cigarette smokers were less receptive to the ads, reinforcing the need to develop tailored campaigns to reach these subgroups.     

The Role of Empowerment in Home Care Work

ABSTRACT

The home care industry experiences similar problems with the recruitment and retention of direct care workers (DCWs) as those faced by institutions, and it is important to identify strategies to help retain and grow this important workforce. The empowerment of DCWs has been shown to be an effective strategy for increasing job satisfaction and decreasing turnover in nursing homes but has not been studied in home care. Using Kanter’s organizational theory of empowerment, including structural empowerment (structure of opportunity, access to resources, access to information, and access to support) and psychological empowerment (meaning, competence, self-determination or autonomy, and impact) this study examined whether home care workers (HCWs) feel empowered in carrying out their jobs. An exploratory, qualitative study of 12 HCWs, recruited from two states in the United States, found high levels of both structural and psychological empowerment among research participants, as well as a number of disempowering aspects of their job. Findings suggest ways to support elements of the work that HCWs find empowering and decrease elements that contribute to job dissatisfaction and turnover.     

Student Veteran Career Transition Readiness,Career Adaptability,and Academic and Life Satisfaction

Student military veterans pursuing higher education present with unique career development needs. To better understand these needs, the authors conducted an exploratory study to examine career transition readiness, career adaptability, academic satisfaction, and satisfaction with life among 134 student military veterans (34 women, 100 men). Results indicated statistically significant positive correlations between satisfaction with life scores and scores on measures of career transition readiness and career adaptability. Regression results demonstrated that career transition readiness and career adaptability predicted satisfaction with life, but not academic satisfaction. The findings suggest a need to understand the complexity of student veterans’ career and academic development in both research and practice.     

A Circumplex Model of Couple Configurations in Relational Trauma Context: An Example of Practice‐Based Model Development

We propose a circumplex model and typology of patterns of couple engagement to help therapists assess and shape positive couple engagement, prerequisite to successful resolution of relational trauma. View or value of self in relation to other (VSIRO) is conceived as a primary engine organizing couple relationships and patterns of engagement. VSIRO is conceptualized along a continuum anchored at opposite poles by inflated (self‐aggrandizing) versus collapsed (self‐negating) VSIRO, with a balanced (egalitarian) VSIRO as the target position, consisting of self and other mutuality, respect, and equality. Two axes (one for each partner) form the circumplex model of five couple configurations—four quadrants plus a balanced, mid‐axes region. Using couple configuration conceptualization to address patterns of engagement is an essential prerequisite to resolving couple relational trauma.     

Oracle GMM estimation for misspecified models via thresholding

We propose a thresholding generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator for misspecified time series moment condition models. This estimator has the following oracle property: its asymptotic behavior is the same as of any efficient GMM estimator obtained under the a priori information that the true model were known. We propose data adaptive selection methods for thresholding parameter using multiple testing procedures. We determine the limiting null distributions of classical parameter tests and show the consistency of the corresponding block-bootstrap tests used in conjunction with thresholding GMM inference. We present the results of a simulation study for a misspecified instrumental variable regression model and for a vector autoregressive model with measurement error. We illustrate an application of the proposed methodology to data analysis of a real-world dataset.     

The programmable society and the individual as a unit of data

The authors commence this paper with discussion of an extract from H.G. Wells' novel of 1920. They use this extract to remind the reader that social innovation is not a new problem and that imaginative writers may be a source of guidance on such matters. Specifically they deal with the social options created by ‘computer-driven’ information systems. They argue that this aspect of the problem of science and people is one which has a great and seriously under-estimated potential to influence the quality of life in a future society.     

How Organizational Cognitive Neuroscience Can Deepen Understanding of Managerial Decision‐making: A Review of the Recent Literature and Future Directions

There is growing interest in exploring the potential links between human biology and management and organization studies, which is bringing greater attention to bear on the place of mental processes in explaining human behaviour and effectiveness. The authors define this new field as organizational cognitive neuroscience (OCN), which is in the exploratory phase of its emergence and diffusion. It is clear that there are methodological debates and issues associated with OCN research, and the aim of this paper is to illuminate these concerns, and provide a roadmap for rigorous and relevant future work in the area. To this end, the current reach of OCN is investigated by the systematic review methodology, revealing three clusters of activity, covering the fields of economics, marketing and organizational behaviour. Among these clusters, organizational behaviour seems to be an outlier, owing to its far greater variety of empirical work, which the authors argue is largely a result of the plurality of research methods that have taken root within this field. Nevertheless, all three clusters contribute to a greater understanding of the biological mechanisms that mediate choice and decision‐making. The paper concludes that OCN research has already provided important insights regarding the boundaries surrounding human freedom to act in various domains and, in turn, self‐determination to influence the workplace. However, there is much to be done, and emerging research of significant interest is highlighted.