Using a stress audit: The construction site manager experience in the UK

Abstract

The aim of this study was to conduct a stress audit among construction industry site managers in the UK as a precursor to a stress management intervention programme. Qualitative data were obtained from in-dept interviews with a total of 36 male middle and senior construction site managers; and aquantitative data were obtained by questionnaire. Based on the analysis of 561 postal quenstionnaires, eight stressor factors were identified, most significantly, ambiguity (i.e. role and task). Job satisfaction levels were low compared to a normative population and influenced by grade level. Measures of mental health were similar to the norm for males, but both grade of management and type of contract affected mental health. Anxiety levels were signficantly high, independent of managerial grade. The stress of work overload and role insecurity (fear of failure) were associated with reduced mental health and high anxiety, and the stress of the organizational culture and climate was the strongest predictor of job dissatisfaction. There was some cause for concern for the vulnerable high-risk groups, i.e. the extreme type A and those working overtime. Medical data from a small subset of managers (n = 78) revealed that this group evidenced a better quality of psychological health than the group in total; but a high percentage of personnel had high levels of triglycerides and cholesterol. Recommendations for action focused on the needs of specific subgroups, and guided the organization on the acceptability of possible interventions at individual, interpersonal and organizational levels.     

金融竞争、相对资本深化与地区经济效率

 与国内外大多从财政收支角度来研究地区的策略性竞争行为不同,本文通过建立空间计量模型检验了我国地区间金融策略性行为,通过构造相对资本深度指标研究了这种背景下地区资本深化对经济效率的影响。研究表明,地区之间的金融策略性竞争行为具有显著的阶段性特征,在很大程度上受地方财政资源充裕程度的影响;从平均意义上来看,全国总体的金融配置并不符合各地资源禀赋结构所决定的最优相对资本深度,存在效率损失,但在不同区域和不同阶段存在显著的差异。因此,合理引导地方政府行为以及有效协调财政金融体制改革对于促进地方金融健康发展进而提升区域经济效率具有深远的意义。     

中国制造业要素配置效率的测算、变化机制与政府干预效应

本文利用改进的APG模型框架对中国各省份地区制造业部门生产效率增长进行分解和测算,并针对导致中国制造业要素配置效率低下的动因进行深入分析。主要的发现是：技术效率和企业净进入是推动中国制造业生产效率增长的主要来源,而要素配置效率对中国制造业生产效率增长的贡献非常有限,由此验证要素市场的发展滞后是造成中国经济增长乏力的重要内在因素。进一步的检验发现是,地方政府对要素市场的干预是造成制造业要素配置效率低下的主要动因,这种干预效应总体上呈现倒U型关系。更为细致的分解结果表明,政府干预对于资本要素配置效率的作用效应呈倒U型关系,而对劳动要素配置效率呈U型关系。这些检验结果均证明,全面推进要素市场的市场化导向改革,减少政府干预对微观经济部门的扭曲性影响,是维持中国制造业生产效率可持续增长的重要改革措施。     

Social work intervention to protect children: Aspects of research and practice

This paper seeks to bring together three issues about which I have felt a nagging, persistent sense of unease over the past 10 years or more. They can be formulated thus: (a) Why is there a great divide between the professional debate on child abuse and that about other aspects of child care policy and practice; (b) Why is accepted good practice so often not carried out; (c) Why are the related implications of research so hard to translate into effective practice? These questions become even more pressing in the present political climate and in the context of the Implementation of the Children Act 1989.     

Worksite e-mail health promotion trial: Early lessons

In preparation for an electronic mail (e-mail) and web-based health promotion intervention across multiple worksites, secure, regulatory-compliant, user-friendly e-mail and Internet applications were used to recruit potential participants across worksites, to enroll participants, and to collect baseline health assessment data. Specific hardware and software information technology environments were required of the 19 participating worksites. Sequential e-mails introduced the study and invited participation. Twenty-four percent of all employees (1106 of approximately 4600) provided consent. E-mail delivered a web link for the baseline study assessment, and reminder e-mails were sent to prompt completion. Of those who consented, 888 (80%) completed baseline health and behavior data surveys. An HTML-native web survey software was more stable across computing environments. Using e-mail and web assessment, this research recruited, enrolled, and collected data from more than 850 participants. Technical and operational challenges emerged at each step. Solutions and recommendations are discussed. Overall, this experience suggests that the use of e-mail and web software can facilitate recruitment, enrollment, and data acquisition through direct contact with study participants. This experience yields a series of lessons learned for using e-mail and the Internet to support multi-site trials.     

Testing for a Unit Root in a Time Series With a Changing Mean

This study considers testing for a unit root in a time series characterized by a structural change in its mean level. My approach follows the “intervention analysis” of Box and Tiao (1975) in the sense that I consider the change as being exogenous and as occurring at a known date. Standard unit-root tests are shown to be biased toward nonrejection of the hypothesis of a unit root when the full sample is used. Since tests using split sample regressions usually have low power, I design test statistics that allow the presence of a change in the mean of the series under both the null and alternative hypotheses. The limiting distribution of the statistics is derived and tabulated under the null hypothesis of a unit root. My analysis is illustrated by considering the behavior of various univariate time series for which the unit-root hypothesis has been advanced in the literature. This study complements that of Perron (1989), which considered time series with trends.     

发展干预项目的有效性评估：功能定位与操作难题

发展干预项目的评估是确定发展目标、发展效率、干预影响以及可持续性同项目实施之间的相关性的过程。它至少包含两方面的现实功能,学术层面上,是回应当前知识界对于发展项目是否真正有效的学术争论的最直接手段;实践层面上,能够对特定发展项目的持续或中止进行合法化描述。发展干预是由多元因素长期共同作用下产生的改变,要展示其项目多大程度上推动了发展变迁,是一件十分困难的事情,其操作性难题主要包括：复杂社会系统中干预效果的归因偏差议题;阶段性影响与最终效果的关系平衡议题;普遍性与情景化的评估方法的采用偏向议题;项目评估的时间节点的动态选择议题。操作性难题归结成最重要的一点,其实就在于如何判断发展干预行动是否真正推动了减贫发展与社会变迁。     

中国住房市场政府干预的原理与效果评价

 本文首先在住房存量流量模型的基础上,对住房市场政府干预的政策目标和政策工具进行了理论刻画,然后联合应用干预分析模型和面板数据模型就2003年以来住房市场政府干预的主要政策组合对北京、上海、广州、深圳、天津和重庆6重点城市的作用效果进行了定量评价。结果表明：全国性政策工具对重点城市住房价格产生了显著的长短期干预效果,尤其是2005年和2006年国务院的两次综合干预以不同形式和力度抑制了房价增长;政府干预的有效性逐渐提升,但全国性政策工具对不同城市的作用力度有显著差异,表现为对二线城市房价的抑制作用明显高于一线城市;2004年土地交易制度改革可能是造成近年住房价格上升的主要政策因素之一。     

学校社会工作介入中学心理咨询与辅导的必要性及介入措施的实务研究——以H市16所中学为例

青少年是一个具有较高智力,较高文化和较强自尊的特殊群体,正处于人格和性格的塑造期,他们大多数对人生、自我和复杂的社会缺乏深刻的认识,再加上其他客观原因的影响,青少年群体或多或少地受到心理问题的困扰,而当前中学心理咨询与辅导在硬件和软件方面存在着诸多不足。学校社会工作尊重每一个学生,注重人的潜能的开发与发展,具有自身一套独特的理论和工作方法,与当前的中学心理咨询与辅导相比,具有无可比拟的优势,所以强调和提出学校社会工作介入青少年心理健康辅导的优势及介入的措施显得尤为必要。     

贫困大学生心理问题及干预措施的探究

高校贫困学生问题是目前我国高等教育事业发展中的焦点问题之一。高校贫困生的心理健康问题已成为一个社会关心、学校担心、家长忧心的社会问题。文章从家庭经济困难子女容易产生的心理困扰和贫困大学生心理问题产生的原因入手进行调研、实验和研究,探索对贫困大学生实施心理援助、干预的有效途径和方法,从而帮助贫困大学生认识自我,接纳他人,改变认知,提升自信,树立正确的人生目标,促进个性心理健康发展,提高心理健康素质,顺利成材。