Growing Disability Rates — the Gender Issue: The Dutch Case in an International Perspective

In the Netherlands, with its remarkably high disability rates, a new phenomenon seems to be emerging. Growing disability rates in the past few years have been exclusively caused by the growing inflow of women into the disability schemes. Comparing the Dutch situation internationally shows that roughly the same problem seems to exist in those countries in which there is a more general problem of large inflow into disability. Women are overrepresented in these arrangements. The Dutch literature shows that there are many factors (both work- and non-work-related) that contribute to a larger push of women towards disability. We conclude that the benefit system can be seen as a sort of "filter". If the filter is weak, many persons will enter disability. If the pressure on women to enter is larger (or the forces to stop women from entering disability smaller), then inflow risks for women will be higher.     

Interventions to prevent needle stick injuries among health care workers

Needle stick injuries (NSIs) are frequently reported as occupational injuries among health care workers. The health effects of a NSI can be significant when blood-to-blood contact occurs from patient to health care worker. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the number of NSIs decreased among health care workers at risk in one Dutch academic hospital after introduction of injection needles with safety devices in combination with an interactive workshop. In a cluster three-armed randomized controlled trial, 23 hospital divisions (n=796 health care workers) were randomly assigned to a group that was subjected to the use of a 'safety device plus workshop', to a group that was subjected to a 'workshop only' or to a control group with no intervention. The combined intervention of the introduction of needle safety devices and an interactive workshop led to the highest reduction in the number of self-reported NSIs compared to a workshop alone or no intervention. For practice, the use of relatively simple protective needle safety devices and interactive communication are effective measures for reducing NSI's.     

Role of Negative Emotion in Communication about CO2 Risks

This article describes how the effectiveness of risk communication is determined by the interaction between emotional and informative elements. An experiment is described that examined the role of negative emotion in communication about CO₂ risks. This experiment was based on the elaboration likelihood model and the related heuristic systematic model of attitude formation. The results indicated that inducing fear of CO₂ risks leads to systematic processing of information about energy conservation as a risk-reducing strategy. In turn, this results in more favorable attitudes toward energy conservation if strong arguments are provided. Individual differences in concern seem to have similar effects.     

A New Look at the Psychometric Paradigm of Perception of Hazards

The psychometric paradigm has been the most influential model in the field of risk analysis. The "cognitive maps" of hazards produced by the paradigm seem to explain how laypeople perceive the various risks they face. Because most of the studies used aggregated data, analyzed using principal component analysis, it is not known whether the model neglects individual differences in risk perception. There has been much criticism on the fact that few studies have examined individual differences in the cognitive representation of hazards. In order to detect and describe the internal structure of the three-way data, we conducted a three-way component analysis (3MPCA). Data for the present analysis were derived from a mail survey conducted in Switzerland. Participants were asked to judge 9 attributes for 26 hazards. Individual differences in the cognitive representation of hazards were correlated with external variables (e.g., general trust). The results suggest that methods permitting individual differences should be used more frequently and that utilizing different methods could provide greater insight into the cognitive representation of risks.     

The dual process model of coping with bereavement: a decade on

The Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement (DPM; Stroebe & Schut, 1999) is described in this article. The rationale is given as to why this model was deemed necessary and how it was designed to overcome limitations of earlier models of adaptive coping with loss. Although building on earlier theoretical formulations, it contrasts with other models along a number of dimensions which are outlined. In addition to describing the basic parameters of the DPM, theoretical and empirical developments that have taken place since the original publication of the model are summarized. Guidelines for future research are given focusing on principles that should be followed to put the model to stringent empirical test.     

Underestimating busyness: Indications of nonresponse bias due to work-family conflict and time pressure

International research shows that both work-family conflict and time pressure are increasing in Western societies. With these increased pressures, precisely those people who are combining work and family obligations may be missing from survey estimates. This study investigates whether the measurement of work-family conflict (WFC) and time pressure is influenced by nonresponse bias. Using the Flemish “Work, Family and Time use in Flanders”-survey and the Basic Question survey for nonrespondents of this survey, we investigate whether nonrespondents score higher on subjective and objective indicators of WFC and time pressure than respondents. Results show that nonrespondents are indeed those sample units who experience significantly more WFC and time pressure, demonstrating that WFC and time pressure related nonresponse biases exist. Implications and suggestions to reduce bias in data collections are discussed.     

Stability of environment and of insect populations

Summary The abundance of moths was monitored with light-traps in two sites in southern Bohemia, České Budějovice for 22 years and in Černiš for 9 years. In these sites, that are vastly different in environmental stability and predictability, stability of insect populations was studied. The amplitude of fluctuations in abundance of the insect populations, as measured by the coefficient of variation (CV), varied a great deal between species so that there was a large overlap between the two sites. Nevertheless there was a highly significant tendency for species at Černiš, the more stable site, to have smaller values of CV, i.e., to be less fluctuating. Also in species co-occurring in the two sites, the CV at Černiš tended to be smaller. Trends in abundance of individual species over time, both increases and decreases, were common in both sites and did not differ between habitats. Environmental stability begets insect population stability in terms of the amplitude of the fluctuations, but trends in time occur irrespective of stability of the habitat.