A New Look at Home Care and the Hospital Social Worker

Clinical, administrative and social action reasons for expanding social work services in hospital based home care programs are persuasive. Hospital departments of social work should consider carefully how they may expand services in home care and coordinate and integrate such activities with social work and discharge planning processes occurring throughout the hospital. It is necessary for social work leadership to be present on professional advisory, quality assurance and similar committees and to use these committees as arenas for expanding the social work role in home care.     

Knowledge and Attitudes of University Health Service Clients about Genital Herpes: Implications for Patient Education and Counseling

Abstract

Genital herpes virus infection is an important target for health education efforts because of its apparently rising incidence in the college student population and because it can have potentially serious psychological as well as medical consequences. In order to better understand the health education and counseling needs of students, the present study surveyed knowledge and attitudes about genital herpes of 190 university students using a gynecology clinic and of 161 students using a general medical clinic. The students were found to have a high degree of familiarity with the disease, its cause, and mode of transmission, but tended to view the consequences of the disease as more severe than is actually warranted by the common medical complications. There was some degree of misinformation about prevention and treatment of the disease and some negative attitudes about patients suffering from it, but the survey respondents endorsed a high level of responsible behavior with regard to the disease and expressed some optimism about the possibility of adapting to it. These findings suggest specific misconceptions about genital herpes that might be amenable to a mass education approach. They also suggest the need for a counseling program that centers around reasonable reassurance and appropriately positive psychological and medical management for newly diagnosed patients.     

Altruism and Market-Like Behavior: An Analysis of Willingness to Pay for Recycled Paper Products

The contrast between self-interested behavior guided by rational choice and altruistic behavior guided by normative considerations is a central theme in the social sciences. This study suggests that market and market-like behavior, the context where self-interest is expected to dominate, is in fact often motivated by altruism. This argument is tested by examining a willingness to pay measure, a surrogate for the market that is finding substantial use in analyses of public policy. In particular, the ability of the Schwartz model of altruism to explain willingness to pay for recycled products is examined. Findings indicate that even as the Schwartz model has explained many purely altruistic behaviors, it also can explain self-reported willingness to pay. While economists often have noted the importance of rational choice in even the most intimate of human decisions, this study notes the importance of normative altruism in even the most calculated.     

Should mothers work? Age and attitudes in Germany,Italy and Sweden

Welfare states are constructed around values and political and economic preferences, creating social relationships between the genders. As women increase their labour market participation, new patterns of conflict within families and around policies arise. In this article, attitudes towards family and gender relations among men and women in different age groups in Germany, Italy and Sweden are analysed. The findings show that national policies seem to influence the level of attitudes among men and women. Despite the differences between the countries, an overall pattern emerges in which both age and gender influence people's understanding of women's paid work within and between the three countries. Finally, some implications of changing attitudes on welfare state policies for gender equality are discussed.     

Is racial prejudice declining in Britain?1

This article employs two previously neglected indicators of racial prejudice from the British Social Attitudes surveys to examine the social distribution of prejudices against black and Asian Britons. Three hypotheses are proposed and tested: that racial prejudice is declining in Britain; that this decline is principally generational in nature; and that greater prejudice is shown towards more culturally distinct Asian minorities than black minorities. Strong evidence is found for the first two hypotheses, with evidence of an overall decline in prejudice and of a sharp decline in prejudices among generations who have grown up since mass black and Asian immigration began in the 1950s. Little evidence is found for the third hypothesis: British reactions towards black and Asian minorities are broadly similar suggesting racial differences may still be the main factor prompting white hostility to British minorities.     

A Perspective on Dioxin Emissions from Municipal Solid Waste Incinerators

This paper discusses the following key issues concerning human exposure to dioxins and furans emitted from typical, modern MSW incinerators: (1) Are MSW incinerators the major source of PCDD/PCDF input into the environment? (2) Are environmental concentrations around MSW incinerators substantially elevated relative to background levels? And (3) are MSW incinerators the major source of human exposure to PCDDs and PCDFs? Current scientific evidence indicates that (1) combustion sources in general (including steel mills, copper smelting plants, motor vehicles, pulp and paper mills, and MSW incinerators) are major sources of PCDD/PCDF input in the environment; (2) environmental concentrations of PCDDs and PCDFs around operating MSW incinerators are not substantially elevated; and (3) 99% of human exposure to PCDDs and PCDFs is from background contamination, even for individuals living near a modern MSW incinerator.     

汉语语词衍生义探析

近年来,由于新事物的出现,人们思维方式和生活方式的变化,新的价值观的出现和追崇时尚,一些汉语原语词衍生出一种或多种新的意义,并被较为广泛应用,它具有褒贬、造势、烘托、强化等表达功能,增强了汉语的表现力。对应用汉语语汇衍生义我们应持积极科学的态度。     

Transformational leadership and optimal functioning at work: On the mediating role of employees' perceived job characteristics and motivation

This study aimed to deepen our understanding of the motivational mechanisms involved in the relationship between transformational leadership (TFL) and employee functioning. Drawing on the TFL literature, the job demands–resources model and self-determination theory, we propose an integrative model that relates TFL to employee psychological health (burnout and psychological distress), attitudes (occupational commitment and turnover intention) and performance (professional efficacy, self-reported individual and objective organizational performance) through two explanatory mechanisms: perceived job characteristics (job demands and resources) and employee motivation (autonomous and controlled). This research was conducted in two occupational settings (nurses and school principals), using a distinct variable operationalization for each. Results of both studies provide support for the hypothesized model, suggesting that TFL relates to optimal job functioning (psychological health, job attitudes and performance) by contributing to favourable perceptions of job characteristics (more resources and less demands) and high-quality work motivation (more autonomous motivation and less controlled motivation) in employees. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications as well as directions for future research are presented.     

Nurse safety: How is safety climate related to affect and attitude?

Occupational accidents and injuries continue to be a critical concern for nurses, given the hazardous healthcare environment. This study advances the research on workplace safety by studying the process variables (i.e. job-related negative affect (JRNA) and job satisfaction) in explaining the relationship between safety climate and various safety criteria in nurses. Based on survey data from 326 nurses, our findings suggest that psychological safety climate is negatively related to JRNA, turnover intentions, safety workarounds, and workplace hazards. In addition, structural equation modelling indicated general support for a model in which psychological safety climate influences employee strain through job attitudes, including JRNA and job satisfaction. More specifically, job attitudes were found to mediate the relationship between psychological safety climate and turnover intentions, experience of hazards, and injuries. Safety workarounds did not significantly relate to injuries. The present study contributes to the ongoing improvement of interventions aimed at mitigating nurses’ injuries by integrating job attitudes into the safety climate–safety outcome framework.     

Mental Disabilities in an Aboriginal Context

Aboriginal (meaning original peoples) North American mental health is acknowledged to be in a more precarious state than that of the dominant cultures. Disability arises from the conditions of poverty, homelessness, and lack of resources that are compounded for North American aboriginal people by the historical trauma of conquest, being placed on reservations, residential schools, and continued discrimination. We present culturally sensitive and syntonic intervention programs that can reduce the impact of Aboriginal mental disabilities and discuss the commonality among these programs of celebrating culture, language, and tradition.