La communauté de pratique : au carrefour des notions de groupe informel et de transmission des savoirs tacites

The results of a field study confirm what the most important research in knowledge management reveals about communities of practice in organizations. If one accepts that the essence of a community of practice is found in its informal nature and its transmission of tacit knowledge, one observes that it is within informal groups that one finds individuals in the best position to convey tacit knowledge. The community of practice would therefore seem to act as a sort of catalyst in the transmission of tacit knowledge.     

Stress scolaire des collégiens et des lycéens : effet de l’appréhension de l’orientation et de la pression de la note

The aim of this study was to test the predictive effect of two variables related to meritocratic ideology and possibly associated with academic stress: academic orientation related worries and apprehension of school evaluation. Differential effects of these variables on stress were also investigated regarding gender and school (middle-high and high schools). Six hundred and nine secondary students completed a questionnaire. Results show that emotional worries regarding academic orientation and apprehension of school evaluation are significant predictors of academic stress. Results reveal differential effects for middle-high school and high school students. In practice, grading and methods used to this aim should be carefully considered as well as the support offered regarding orientation project of middle-high school students especially.     

Utilisation des intervalles de confiance au lieu des tests de signification : aspects épistémologiques et pratiques

The use of confidence intervals instead of significance tests is strongly recommended by the fifth edition of the manual of the American Psychological Association (2001). This possibility as well as other improvements in statistical practice are discussed in the framework of the major theoretical options subtending statistical inference and the way they have been applied in psychology for about 50 years. First, the suggestion of a complete ban on statistical testing is examined and rejected. Next, a procedure consisting in measuring the fit of two competing models based on the likelihood ratio is judged interesting and commendable. Finally, the superiority of an approach based on confidence intervals instead of significance tests is assessed and illustrated by its application to an experimental study aiming to demonstrate the absence instead of the presence of an effect of the independent variable.     

La Direction des affaires juridiques et des droits des patients de l’AP–HP et la première vague de la pandémie Covid-19

To facilitate the analysis and the management of claims related to the last Covid-19 pandemic, the DAJ of the AP–HP constituted a medical group assisted by lawyers intending to review the scientific knowledge and organizational measures during the first wave of this pandemic. This group brought together medical doctors with both scientific expertise in the main specialties requested during this viral infection and knowledge of repairing bodily damage. Based on the data provided by the hospital dashboards and the collection of hospital procedures for Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 patients, the goal of this group was to assess the level of scientific knowledge and organizational measures respectively at the start of the epidemic, its peak and at the end. During the three periods of this pandemic the main changes observed included a greater selectivity on admissions with increasing consideration on the patient's comorbidity; a continual evolution in drug management and more rigorous isolation measures with interruption of visiting rights. The target was to prevent contamination of the non-infected persons with an obsession to protect healthcare workers. The absence of selection for patients requiring intensive care for compensation of their respiratory failure forced AP–HP to double the number of intensive care beds and to refer some patients in other regions. In a context of unstable scientific knowledge and evolving organizational measures, the collection of these data should facilitate the management of claims related to Covid19 during the first wave of this pandemic and open a prospective study for the next pandemic.     

Hommes et aléas : appréhension des risques côtiers par des usagers et des gestionnaires de communes littorales

This study focuses on how users and managers living in coastal areas represent their living environment and how the coastal risks (erosion and flooding) are included in this place representation. To do this, a qualitative survey (semi-structured interviews) was conducted with 61 people who live in towns so-called “at risky” or “vulnerable” in relation to this issue. The interviews were fully transcribed and they have been analyzed by the Alceste textual analysis software, supplemented by a manual content analysis. For all respondents, the results highlight that coastal risks are not a major concern. For managers, the risk is taken into account but it is not usually the priority. For users, the privilege of the surrounding and the place attachment obscure the existence of risk, whatever it is.     

Similitudes et différences de perceptions chez des salariés hommes et femmes

This study investigates men and women perceptions in the work, accros the relations between work conditions and job satisfaction. Similarity and difference are questionned about the mean dimensions of the work conditions (factor analysis) as well as the prédictive value of theses dimensions for the job satisfaction (regression analysis). In the same point of view, similarity and difference are analysed about health, importance of life domains and work-family interferences. Men and women seem to organize in the same way work conditions. Three factors are retained (Relations with superiors, Development and autonomy, Work intensity), wich the first two predict job satisfaction, for the men and the women. Nevertheless we note some differences, both about the force of the prediction and about specific item. Results and and futur works are discussed.     

La représentation des causes de l’état de santé par les infirmiers et les points de vue envisagés des patients et des aidants naturels : une approche socionormative

This study examines the representation of the determining factors of patients’ states of health in therapeutic care situations. We describe the average representation of experienced hospital nurses (n=44) and the differences which they consider to exist between their own and their patients’ points of view. Taking as our starting point the purpose of the care provided and the asymmetry of the carer/patient relationship, we hypothesize, on the one hand, that nurses will have a representation of their patients’ state of health which is based on the care to be provided, with the factors determining the state of health being necessarily perceived as having a general impact on patients’ lives while still being remediable, i.e. capable of changing and being controlled by the provided care. On the other hand, we expect them to attribute a passive position and attitude to their patients, with the factors determining their state of health being necessarily perceived as being out of their own control. The results and the analysis of the representations reported as being those of the patients and their families seem to justify this perception and role of carer: the supposed representations of the latter would appear to be convergent but less focused on health problems and would tend to minimize the patient’s involvement, in particular when the state of health declines. The results are discussed with reference to the Health Belief Model and the social norm of internality as well as the professional practices observed in hospital environments.     

Étude des liens entre la fréquence de pratique sportive et la santé des étudiants : mesure des effets de genre sur les troubles alimentaires et les consommations de substances

A number of previous studies have focused on the effect of sport practice on eating disorders and substance use. Most of these studies suggest that among students sport practice is related to low levels of health issues like eating disorders and substance use. However, there is a relative dearth of evidence for these relationships and previous findings are based on comparisons between people involved in sport practice and physical activity and sedentary or largely inactive people. The present study aims to test the effects of frequency of sport practice on college students’ eating disorders and substance use when also controlling for gender effects.MethodsOne thousand and seventy-three first year college students (35.6% boys, 64.4% girls) volunteered to participate in the study. Participants were divided into three groups according to the frequency of their sport practice: students who rarely participated in sport practice (less than one hour a week and not every week; 406 students, 26.4% boys vs 73.6% girls), students who frequently participated in sport practice (every week but less than eight hours a week; 173 students, 33.5% boys vs 66.5% girls), and students who had intensive sport practice (eight hours a week or more; 494 students, 43.9% boys vs 56.1% girls). Alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use were assessed using the Alcohol Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST). Three different categories of eating disorders (Dieting, Bulimia, Oral control) were assessed using the EAT-26 inventory. ANOVAs were computed to test for gender differences across the three sport practice groups.ResultsResults of univariate ANOVAs revealed main effects for gender and sport practice on some of the substance use and eating disorder variables, ANOVA with multiple comparisons (Tamhan T Test) revealed a significant interaction effect of sport practice and gender on oral control and tobacco use. For girls, oral control and tobacco use do not vary within the three groups of sport practice whereas for boys the more frequent the sport practice, the lower their scores on oral control and tobacco use. For oral control, boys reported significantly higher scores than girls only when sport practice was rare. For tobacco use, boys reported significantly higher scores than girls when sport practice was rare and lower scores when sport practice was intensive.ConclusionThese results suggest that the positive effects of sport practice vary by gender and that the campaigns for promotion of physical activity might assist in the prevention of health issues amongst students but should be adapted according to the gender of the participants.     

Juger la recrutabilité des candidats : quels effets de l’apparence et des aptitudes en fonction des types de postes ?

Scientific research has shown the influence of norms and of gender and beauty stereotypes on evaluations and hiring decisions. Recent studies (Desrumaux, 2005; Jawahar & Mattson, 2005) have shown an evolution of the lack of Fit model (Heilman, 1983). The objective of this research is to test the effects of physical appearance, GMA and normative pieces of information (internality/externality) related to the candidate on the candidates’ recrutabilty. This study has also taken into account hierarchy level and sexual connotation of the job. We have tested its effects on medical jobs, of higher level (surgeon, doctor nutritionist) or subordinate (ambulance man and dental assistant). The results indicate that an attractive candidate is judged more recrutable for a subordinate job than a superior one. Moreover, for a subordinate job, the effect of the attractiveness was more important for male target than for feminine target. Results show also that men are judged less hirable than the women for female type jobs. Moreover, the effect of the aptitude is more discriminating for the external ones than for the internals. Results were discussed on the line of the lack of fit correspondence model.     

Une comparaison des apports des modèles de la construction de la carrière et de la construction de soi au life designing counseling

Recent developments in Western societies and transformations in work organizations have made the vocational issues that people face more frequent, complex, and puzzling. With the individualization of the life course, people now more than ever before need to reflect and deliberate as they design their lives. To assist individuals cope with difficult issues in life-designing, counselors have devised a new approach to counselling dialogues that differs from traditional information and guidance interventions. This article briefly presents the theoretical model for life designing counseling and then compares two distinct life-designing intervention approaches. Both of them share the epistemology of social constructivism and concentrate on the client and counselor's co-construction of meaning. Each approach provides a rigorous and systematic foundation for counselling interviews yet they differ in the ways they tackle meaning-making. The major difference is that the first approach presents a highly-structured form of life-designing interview that highlights the counselor's role in reconstructing a client's meanings, identity, and intentions. In contrast, the second approach presents a form of life-designing interview that highlights the client's role in self-construction of meaning, identities, and future prospects.     

Déclaration de l’ITC sur l’utilisation des tests et autres instruments de mesure à des fins de recherche scientifique

This document is intended to promote the belief that test use in research should abide by legal and ethical principles as well as best practice standards and that tests should be used by competent professionals who focus attention on the rights of test-takers and other parties involved in the testing process. Issues discussed in this document highlight these considerations.     

La gestion de la souffrance par le psychologue clinicien. Étude des impacts et des stratégies de coping

We focus in this study on strategies used by clinical psychologists to cope with their own or patient psychological distress in the framework of help relationship. A self-administered form was sent to listings of professionals by e-mail. The sample is made of 187 French clinical psychologists. To cope with patients’ suffering, psychologists use mostly avoidance coping style. And the strategies they prefer are “supervision”, “personal therapy” and “speaking with colleagues” (problem focused coping strategies). To cope with their own distress, which has a lot of negative impacts on help relationship, psychologists have most frequently a problem focused coping style but their favourite strategy is to “lighten their schedules”. And almost a quarter of the sample presents a significant level of distress. In conclusion, results show that psychological distress management by psychologists is an important question with a lot of ethical questions.     

Vécu et confort des usagers des immeubles de bureaux tunisiens contemporains : de la normalisation à la notion d'ambiance

This article presents the results of two exploratory studies on user’s satisfaction about their work environment and especially the case of contemporary Tunisian office buildings characterized by highly glazed facades. Designing office buildings as a uniform and standard work environment was discussed by ambiantal approach of architectural spaces. With palliative actions, users of office building try to have a suitable environment. The results are discussed and some suggestions are made for future research.     

Les transformations du marché du travail et des organisations : enjeux de maintien au travail et de mobilité professionnelle

This article examines the impacts of the changes in the labor market and organizations as well as their effects on women executives’ job retention and professional mobility. This research is rooted in a qualitative approach based on 51 individual interviews with female executives. The results reveal that the work of women executives is organized around financial goals and could entail risks such as loss of meaning. In these contexts, women developpe resistance or collaboration strategies to integrate and stay at work. These strategies have consequences on their professional mobility.     

Perception des conditions de travail et perspectives professionnelles chez les enseignants des collèges en Tunisie

This study examines the impact of organizational work conditions on the mental health of secondary school teachers in Tunisia. It aims to understand teachers’ specific problems on the basis of their professional representations of the profession in order to identify the sources of their malaise at work. To conduct our research, Self-report questionnaires were completed by 34 teachers, aged 30 to 58 years, from different secondary schools. The thematic analysis highlights a bond between constraints perception related to working conditions and the negative evaluations of work situations and teaching profession as a whole. Professional experience reveals suffering and discomfort, they can lead to reconsidering future prospects.     

Nature et significations des échanges entre domaines de vie : l’exemple des nouveaux cadres de l’Action Sociale

Accessing to a management position for the first time implies, for professionals, reflecting on their commitments in different fields and times of their socialization, on their articulation, and on their compatibilities. Referring to the model of an active socialization – active because plural and then conflicting – which rejects a dichotomous approach of the “work/non work” relations, the meaning people give to the relations between their different life spheres, communicating with others, orientates the organization of exchanges between life domains. Content analysis of interviews conducted with new social work managers brought us to distinguish six types of exchanges: temporal, informational, relational, emotional, axiological, ideological and symbolic.     

Étude de la concordance des diagnostics psychiatriques et psychologiques dans un échantillon de 505 criminels

Our focus is to study how frequently psychologists and psychiatrists make diagnoses in forensic reports, whether structural or nosographic, in relation to judicial expertise. Our goal is thus to assess the conformability ratio between psychologists and psychiatrists for both diagnoses. To do so, we studied the level of inter-observer agreement for the diagnoses of 505 male criminals made in France by expert psychologists and psychiatrists between 1990 and 2003. The measurement of agreement was done with the Kappa coefficient. The inter-observer agreement (psychiatrics versus psychologists) shows a 0.55 to 0.71 variation for the structural diagnoses and 0.51 to 0.89 for the nosographic diagnoses.Furthermore, the results also show a high level of agreement between the psychiatrists and psychologists for not making diagnoses, whether structural (k = 0.66) or nosographic (k = 0.73). Hence, we provide specific advice to improve the consistency of expert diagnoses for criminals in France.