Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms Among U.S. Nursing Home Residents

This study aimed to examine racial and ethnic differences in significant depressive symptoms among long-term nursing home residents. We analyzed the 2014 national Minimum Data Set linked to a nursing home file and estimated multivariable logistic regressions to determine the associations of race and ethnicities with significant depressive symptoms (score ≥ 10 on the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire [PHQ-9] scale) and whether associations were explained by resident and nursing home covariates. Stratified analyses further determined independent associations in subgroups of residents. We found that the prevalence rate of PHQ-9 scores ≥ 10 was 8.8% among non-Hispanic White residents (n = 653,031) and 7.4%, 6.9%, and 6.6% among Black (n = 97,629), Hispanic (n = 39,752), and Asian (n = 16,636) residents, respectively. The reduced likelihoods of significant depressive symptoms for minority residents compared to non-Hispanic Whites persisted after sequential adjustments for resident and nursing home covariates, as well as in stratified analyses. The persistently lower rate of significant depressive symptoms among racial and ethnic minority residents suggests that training of nursing home caregivers for culturally sensitive depression screening is needed for improved symptom recognition among minority residents.     

Important Strategic and Tactical Manufacturing Issues in the 1990s*

This paper reports the identification and ranking of major manufacturing issues that American manufacturing managers and academics must focus on and resolve in the 1990s to be competitive on a global basis. Vice-presidents of manufacturing from over 75 companies across the United States were asked in a Delphi study to rank the key strategic and tactical issues facing American manufacturing in the next three to five years. Based on three rounds of a Delphi study, quality management, manufacturing strategy, and process technology emerged as the top ranked strategic issues. The top ranked tactical issues were quality control, manufacturing planning and control systems, and work force supervision. These issues were valid across diverse industry groups, since the industrial and educational background of the respondents was shown to have no impact on the final consensus rankings and opinions reported in this paper. Factor analysis of the responses by the panel revealed that certain issues tend to be consistently viewed together, and were interpreted accordingly to provide insights into the ranking of issues. Apart from building a consensus among experts on key manufacturing issues of present and future importance, this study can also be helpful for setting future academic research and pedagogical priorities for the field of production and operations management.     

The Effects of Questionnaire Translation on Demographic Data and Analysis

The collection of demographic data in developing and, increasingly, developed countries often requires the translation of a survey instrument. This article addresses the implications for data and analysis of two of the most common modes of translation. The first, the officially sanctioned—though not empirically verified—method, involves the pre-fieldwork production of a standardized translation of the template questionnaire into all or most languages in which interviews are expected to be conducted. The second, rarely acknowledged in the literature but quite common in the field, occurs where there is a mismatch between the language of the questionnaire available to the interviewer and the language in which the actual interview is conducted. In this case, it is up to the interviewer to translate from the language of the questionnaire to the language of the interview. Using the 1998 Kenya DHS, in which 23% of interviews were translated in this non-standardized manner, we explore the effects of the two translation modes on three indicators of measurement error and on estimated multivariate relations. In general we find that the effects of non-standardized translation on univariate statistics—including higher-order variance structures—are rather moderate. The effects become magnified, however, when multivariate analysis is used. This suggests that the advantages of—and also costs associated with—standardized translation depend on the ultimate purposes of data collection.

基于艾森克问卷探析吸毒人群的人格特征

 吸毒者人格因素的研究一直是心理学和精神病学对物质滥用行为研究的一个焦点。本文采用艾森克问卷对吸毒人员的人格特点和心理健康状况进行分析研究,探究吸毒行为产生的直接心理诱因。     

PERCEIVED USEFULNESS OF INFORMATION: A PSYCHOMETRIC EXAMINATION*

The perceived usefulness of information is an important construct for the design of management information systems. Yet an examination of existing measures of perceived usefulness shows that the instruments developed have not been validated nor has their reliability been verified. In this paper a new instrument for measuring two dimensions of perceived usefulness is developed. The results of an empirical study designed to test the reliability and construct validity of this instrument in a capital-budgeting setting are presented.     

Validation of the Childbirth Attitudes Questionnaire in Greek and psychosocial characteristics of pregnant women with fear of childbirth

BackgroundFear of childbirth has been found to be a factor that influences women's decision about their choice of delivery. The investigation of psychological factors that relate to fear of childbirth as well as the validation of the Childbirth Attitudes Questionnaire (CAQ) can help identify pregnant women with high fear of childbirth.AimThis study aimed to (a) translate and validate the Childbirth Attitude Questionnaire in Greek and (b) explore how fear of childbirth was related to childbirth self-efficacy, state anxiety, depression, neuroticism, self-esteem and optimism.Methods145 nulliparous pregnant women, in late pregnancy, attending routine antenatal visit in a private maternity clinic participated. All participants completed the CAQ (fear of childbirth) and other self-report questionnaires that measured childbirth self-efficacy, self-esteem, optimism, neuroticism, state anxiety and depressive symptomatology. Factor structure was investigated using principal axis factoring. Cronbach's α was used to measure internal consistency reliability. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated between all study variables, followed by multiple linear regression.FindingsThe factor analysis suggested the existence of one-factor structure. Construct validity was confirmed by computing correlations between the CAQ and childbirth self-efficacy, self-esteem and optimism. Multivariate analysis showed that childbirth self-efficacy, self-esteem and optimism were negatively and significantly associated with fear of childbirth.Conclusion and implications for practiceThe Greek version of the CAQ is a reliable and valid measure. The clinical use of CAQ may enable midwives and other health care professionals to identify pregnant women with low childbirth confidence and to provide information and support.     

Work and non-work factors as perceived causes of symptoms of psychological strain

Two studies are reported in which the respondents were asked to attribute causes to their experienced symptoms of stress as measured by the General Health Questionnaire. The results show that most respondents can do this, that there are differences in attributions by symptoms, and that the pattern of attributions is similar for two different occupational groups, even though the level of symptomology is higher for nurses than for laboratory workers. It is argued that this simple addition to symptom questionnaires might have useful diagnostic value, but that further research with different populations and other symptoms is desirable.     

中国企业管理人员对创业的态度

本文调查了三组中国企业管理人员的态度。内容涉及他们对创业的兴趣以及他们对于创业成功机会的预期,并试图通过此类调查找到一些普遍性。这些将对企业家领域的政策制定者有所帮助。     

企业流程再造中标杆瞄准理论及其应用

本文从企业流程再造BPR思想出发,对标杆瞄准理论Benchmarking进行了研究,论述了标杆瞄准理论的基本原理和思想,同时结合中国某航空动力机械公司的南方125摩托车装配系统管理的实例,针对如何选择标杆瞄准对象、如何合理运用问卷调查和直接访问、如何选择关键流程确定绩效衡量指标以及如何确定框架结构进行优化组合,提出了一套标杆瞄准的具体实施方法。     

Developing an instrument to measure satisfaction with continuity of midwifery care drawing on the Delphi technique

BackgroundMaternal satisfaction with maternity care is an important indicator of quality maternity services. Continuity of midwifery models of care are increasing in Australia and while several instruments have been developed to measure satisfaction with maternity care most of these have not been validated and there are none that are appropriate to continuity of midwifery maternity care models.AimTo develop a questionnaire to measure women’s satisfaction with maternity services provided in a continuity of midwifery care service model.MethodsA modified Delphi technique was used. A heterogenous panel of eight experts provided feedback over four rounds. The starting point for the questionnaire was informed by two systematic literature reviews focusing on available instruments for measuring maternal satisfaction with maternity care and what women value continuity of midwifery models of care.FindingsThe Continuity of Midwifery Care Satisfaction Survey (COMcareSS) was developed after four rounds of feedback with the expert panel. The survey comprises nine domains and fifty-nine questions. The domains include demographics, maternity care outcomes, facilities, the midwife/woman relationship, building capacity-empowerment, decision making and involvement, personalised care, advice care and support and general.ConclusionsConsumer satisfaction is an important indicator of quality care. This is the first instrument to be developed that is appropriate to continuity of midwifery models of care. The important next step is to pilot test the instrument to establish its validity and reliability.