Measurement of the subjective work environment

Abstract

This paper considers the various issues that frame the development and use of measures of the subjective work environment. It begins by questioning the role of the work environment in determining occupational health, and explores the possible mechanisms by which that environment might exert its influence. It concludes that one of the important final common pathways is psycho-physiological in nature, and is rooted in individual perception and cognition and the experience of stress. Important for this model are the concepts of mediation and moderation. The measurement of the subjective work environment has often been idiosyncratic to the study in hand, and there are few well-established measures in common use. It is argued that researchers should be careful when deciding not to use established measures and effectively ‘invent’ their own. In developing new measures, decisions have to be made concerning the nature of the measure along with its ‘granularity’ and complexity. It is also argued that it is important that researchers should follow good psychometric practice in the development of those measures. Suggestions for ‘good practice’ are discussed. Attention is drawn to the issues of reliability and validity, and this paper discusses the role of triangulation in the planning and execution of data collection and analysis. The paper ends by reviewing the recommendations made towards the development and use of measures of the subjective work environment.     

Pivot to Telehealth: Narrative Reflections on Circle of Security Parenting Groups during COVID‐19

In response to COVID‐19 hygiene and physical distancing restrictions, our service rapidly shifted to delivering Circle of Security‐Parenting? (COS‐P) groups via telehealth. In this article we report the perspectives and experiences of the group facilitator and the parents who received the intervention during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We use semi‐structured, qualitative interviews to explore the advantages, challenges, and positive impacts of the online parenting group from the perspectives of the group leader and the five group participants. Participants’ narrative reflections show that they were satisfied with the convenient and engaging online delivery of the program and would recommend it to other parents. Parents reported significant improvements in their parenting and greater awareness of their strengths and struggles. The online delivery of COS‐P resulted in more efficient service delivery, greater attendance rates, and adherence to the model. The stressors on the experienced facilitator, due to the abrupt transition and multiple technical and communication challenges, may have been mitigated by supervisor and collegial support, as well as careful preparation for herself and the participants. Future research should investigate the effectiveness of online versus face‐to‐face delivery of the intervention, including what works for whom.     

The Role of Systematic Reviews and the Campbell Collaboration in the Realization of Evidence-Informed Practice

Evidence-informed practice asks practitioners and policy-makers to integrate current best evidence with client context in order to provide meaningful and potentially effective services across a range of presenting problems. Done correctly, systematic reviews are a crucial part of this process, providing social workers and other helping professionals with transparent, rigorous, and informative syntheses of research in a given area. This paper makes clear the need for systematic reviews in social work, briefly explains what systematic reviews are and how they are made, and describes the role of the Campbell Collaboration in creating a world library of systematic reviews.     

Papua New Guinea Highlanders Ancient And Modern

D.K. Feil. The evolution of Highland Papua New Guinea societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1987. xii, 286pp., plates, maps, tables, bibliography, index. $59.50. ISBN 0 521 33423 3.     

Look What's Back! Institutional Complexity,Reversibility and the Knotting of Logics

Through a comparative historical study of community pharmacy in the UK, Italy, Sweden and the USA, the authors examine what happens to institutional arrangements designed to resolve ongoing conflicts between institutional logics over extended periods of time. It is found that institutional arrangements can reflect the heterogeneity of multiple logics without resulting in hybridization or dominance. Because logics remain active, similar conflicts can reappear multiple times. It is found that the durability of the configurations of competing logics reflects the characteristics of the polities in which fields are embedded. The dominance of any societal institutional order leads to more stable field‐level arrangements. The authors suggest that the metaphor of institutional knots and the related image of institutional knotting are useful to capture aspects of this dynamic and to foreground the discursive and material work that allows multiple logics to coexist in local arrangements with variable durability.