Investigating occupational well-being and leadership from a person-centred longitudinal approach: congruence of well-being and perceived leadership

The overall objective of this longitudinal study was to investigate the association between perceived leadership and employee well-being from a person-centred approach utilizing the principles of the conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, S. E. (1989). Conservation of resources: A new attempt at conceptualizing stress. American Psychologist, 44, 513–524; Hobfoll, S. E. (2002). Social and psychological resources and adaptation. Review of General Psychology, 6, 307–324). First, we aimed to identify latent classes (i.e., subgroups) of employees that demonstrated similar mean levels of stability and change in occupational well-being (i.e., vigour and emotional exhaustion) across a mean time-lag of 14 months. Second, we ascertained whether employees in the latent well-being classes differed in their ratings of transformational, authentic, and abusive leadership behaviours across time. Self-report data were obtained from Finnish employees (N = 262, 88% women) working in a variety of municipal jobs. Using factor mixture modelling, four latent well-being classes were identified, indicating good (79%), low (10%), improving (8%), and deteriorating (3%) well-being. Congruence in both level and change of well-being and perceived leadership was found. That is, employees with better well-being across time reported more favourable leadership behaviours at both time points, and changes in employee well-being were reflected as changes in perceived leadership. The close relationship between perceived leadership and well-being is discussed from both a leader-centric (leadership as a resource) and a follower-centric (well-being as a resource) perspective.     

Reliability and validity of an auditing tool for person-centred psychotherapy and counselling for young people: The PCEPS-YP

The present study aimed to test the reliability and validity of the Person Centred and Experiential Psychotherapy Scale–Young Person version (PCEPS-YP). This is a newly developed and adapted 9-item scale which aims to measure counsellor competences in, and adherence to, person-centred practice, when working with adolescents. Counselling practice was assessed for 19 counsellors by randomly selecting 20-min audio segments from 142 recorded counselling sessions. Audio material was independently rated by eight raters using the PCEPS-YP to produce an average adherence rating per counsellor. Scale reliability was assessed via interrater reliability and internal consistency testing. Convergent validity was tested using ratings from the observer-rated Barrett-Leonard Relationship Inventory (BLRI Obs 40), and the scale was subjected to exploratory factor analysis. Results showed a high degree of internal consistency within raters (α = 0.95), marginally acceptable reliability across grouped raters (α = 0.58) and weaker reliability between pairs of raters (α = 0.50). Exploratory factor analysis revealed one strong factor for the scale with no subscales. Small-to-moderate correlations existed between the PCEPS-YP and the BLRI subscales and mean total score (rs = .12 to .40). Our findings suggest that the PCEPS-YP has potential as an effective, reliable and valid tool for assessing competence and adherence in person-centred practice with young people, both for research and for clinical purposes. However, training procedures need to be established that can enhance interrater reliability, and more evidence of convergent validity is needed.     

Innovation in therapeutic practice with ‘violent youth’: A discourse analysis of the non‐violent resistance approach

Introduction: The introduction of the innovative non‐violent resistance approach (NVR) at a multi‐agency service in east Kent, UK, has presented challenges in terms of the recruitment of the necessary wider professional support for the family, with some professionals seeing the approach as not child‐focused. Aims and objectives: To identify child‐focused themes among professionals, and to compare these with discourses used in NVR and, for comparison, in the Webster‐Stratton approach, to elucidate possible obstacles to the acceptance by professionals of NVR. Methods and analysis: A focus group of experienced professionals was convened to discuss what it means to be child‐focused, and a thematic analysis was conducted. Key texts from NVR and the Webster‐Stratton approach were selected and analysed using Foucauldian discourse analysis. Results: Being child‐focused was considered to require the child's voice being heard, at least by the parents. Power differentials and developmental issues were also highlighted in the discussion. The key text analyses suggests that the Webster‐Stratton approach is communicated through familiar ‘biomedical’ and ‘missionary’ discourses, while surprisingly NVR is communicated through a discourse of ‘war’ as well as the more familiar and child‐focused ‘family values’ discourse. Implications: The ‘war’ discourse used by NVR, in which violent young people are seen as aggressors and oppressors, challenges the traditional discourses of childhood formed around notions of innocence. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to furthering the adoption of NVR as an effective way of working to help violent children of all ages.     

Turning differences into possibilities: Using discourse analysis to investigate change in therapy with adolescents and their families

Discourse analysis affords researchers and practitioners improved understandings regarding how positive outcomes are accomplished in the conversations of family therapy. By investigating how change is constructed or ‘performed’ in therapeutic interactions, its analyses conceptually parallel those of the social constructionist approaches to family therapy. In this respect, discourse analysis offers empirical methods to examine claims about the constructive aspects of therapeutic conversations. These conceptual and research parallels are examined in how impasses in family therapy were transcended, rhetorically, between an adolescent, his parents and the therapist. We conclude that the research methods of discourse analysis can directly enhance the conversational skills and methods of therapists.     

Talking about sex after cancer: A discourse analytic study of health care professional accounts of sexual communication with patients

There is consistent evidence that health care professionals (hcps) are not addressing the sexual information and support needs of people with cancer. Thirty-eight Australian hcps across a range of professions working in cancer care were interviewed, to examine constructions of sexuality post-cancer, the subject positions adopted in relation to sexual communication, and the ways in which discourses and subject positions shape information provision and communication about sexuality. Participants constructed sexual changes post-cancer in physical, psychological and relational terms, and positioned such changes as having the potential to significantly impact on patient and partner well-being. This was associated with widespread adoption of a discourse of psychosocial support, which legitimated discussion of sexual changes within a clinical consultation, to alleviate distress, dispel myths and facilitate renegotiation of sexual practices. However, this did not necessarily translate into patient-centred practice outcomes, with the majority of participants positioning personal, patient-centred and situational factors as barriers to the discussion of sex within many clinical consultations. This included: absence of knowledge, confidence and comfort; positioning sex as irrelevant or inappropriate for some people; and limitations of the clinical context. In contrast, those who did routinely discuss sexuality adopted a subject position of agency, responsibility and confidence.     

Values in children's stories in South Africa: an exploratory discourse analysis

This study explored the presentation and construction of the values in story texts for children in South Africa. The data were from five children's stories from a widely-circulated weekly newspaper. The story content was analysed for value-laden themes child readers are exposed to. The themes to emerge from the study suggest the endorsement of values such as delighting in one's natural beauty, the importance of education, martyrdom, inclusivity, telling the truth, gratitude, appreciating one's own talent, truthfulness, respecting one's elders, community unity and forgiveness. Some of the stories touched on family structure, including the absent father as well as gender stereotypes, gender inequalities and social norms.     

Reflection in university and the employability agenda: a discourse analysis case study

In UK universities, reflection is promoted not only for its intrinsic value but also for instrumental purposes, for students to gain and demonstrate skills and attributes which are valued by employers. In this paper, I examine reflective writing produced by students seeking an award offered by the careers department of one university. By looking at the evaluative language choices made by the student writers, I shed light on some of their practices regarding self-representation and their articulations of experience. I provide a critical account of what reflective writing looks like in this particular setting, and interpret this in the broader context of the goal to foster reflection among higher education students. I argue that the reflective writing engendered by this particular context and task is different in key respects from the reflection which is commonly advocated as an element of personal, professional or academic development.     

Breast cancer representations in Canadian news media: a critical discourse analysis of meanings and the implications for identity

Despite the importance of critical media work, much is to be learned about breast cancer representations within media discourses and the implications for women’s identity construction. Building on research from Australia from a discursive perspective, this article used an eclectic approach to critical discourse analysis to explore the cultural construction of breast cancer in 25 detailed stories within Canada’s two national newspapers, The Globe and Mail and the National Post. Ten images accompanying stories and 17 advertisements/public service announcements were also analyzed to contextualize discourses and subject positions/identities within the stories. Analysis of this media affords the unique opportunity to explore taken for granted assumptions and prevailing meanings about breast cancer and the implications for subjectivity. Two primary discourses were identified: a discourse of biomedicine and a discourse of healthism. Subject positions identified included “breast cancer survivor,” “the good consumer,” and the “medical expert.” The psychological, social, political, and health promotion implications are discussed.     

The spatial contours of wellbeing: A content analysis of metaphor in academic discourse

Abstract

In thinking and talking about wellbeing, people often deploy spatial metaphors, such as identifying positive and negative affect with ‘up’ and ‘down’ respectively. However, there has not yet been a systematic investigation of how wellbeing is represented through metaphor. To shed light on this topic, a content analysis was conducted of spatial metaphors in academic discourse on wellbeing, focusing on recent editions of two leading journals, the Journal of Positive Psychology, and the British Journal of Clinical Psychology. Across 28 papers, 54 spatial metaphors were identified, grouped into four main categories: verticality; horizontality; configuration; and dynamism. Above all, wellbeing is associated with interior expansiveness, with positive valence usually attaching to vertical metaphors of height and depth, horizontal metaphors of width and breadth, and configuration metaphors of size and growth. The analysis thus offers valuable insights into the subjective dynamics of wellbeing.     

Understanding public opinion relating to the establishment of community mental health facilities: implications of a discourse analytic approach

This paper demonstrates a novel approach to investigating the problem of public opposition to community mental health facilities. With the move towards community care, organizations setting up mental health facilities have encountered public opposition. It has been argued that this is due, in part, to the attitudes held by the public towards mentally ill people. A knowledge and understanding of attitudes towards this client group therefore has the potential to be of practical use to policy makers and practitioners who have a responsibility to consult on, and implement, community care for mentally ill people. The survey approaches and hypothetical situations used in previous British studies of community attitudes towards mentally ill people have, however, failed to take account of the rhetorical richness and complexity of the attitudes likely to be expressed in real‐life community care contexts. By contrast, the study reported in this paper used a discourse analytic approach to explore the views expressed about mentally ill people in a ‘hot situation’. Specifically, people's views were explored in the contexts of the arguments they used to challenge or advocate a supported accommodation project for mentally ill people in their community. This paper examines some of these arguments and discusses the theoretical implications for traditional approaches to attitude research. In conclusion, the potential practical utility of the findings is considered. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A longitudinal person-centred view on perceived employability: The role of job insecurity

The primary aim of the present 1-year longitudinal study among university employees (N = 1314) was to investigate individual development of perceived employability (PE) by utilizing a person-centred approach. Thus, we identified latent classes of PE across 1 year based on growth mixture modelling. In addition, the latent classes were characterized by perceived job insecurity and the type of employment contract and its changes over the 1-year time period. The results showed four latent classes of PE that differed in the level and the direction of mean-level changes over time. These latent classes were: (1) stable relatively high PE (n = 641); (2) unstable decreasing PE (n = 45); (3) unstable increasing PE (n = 24); and (4) stable relatively low PE (n = 603). Perceived job insecurity associated with the latent class membership of PE. That is, low levels of perceived job insecurity were associated with favourable PE classes (i.e., “stable relatively high” and “unstable increasing employability”), whereas high levels of job insecurity associated with unfavourable PE classes (i.e., “stable relatively low” and “unstable decreasing employability”). Furthermore, transitions from temporary to permanent job contract occurred more often in the favourable than in unfavourable PE classes, but transitions from permanent to temporary contract were more likely in the unfavourable classes. Thus, our study indicated a substantial amount of heterogeneity in the development of PE across 1 year.     

Women counsellors' experiences of personal therapy: A thematic analysis

Background: Following recent moves to relax the requirements for clinical mental health trainees to undergo personal therapy, this qualitative project explored the effects of personal therapy on volunteer counsellors. Method: Interviews were conducted with 19 volunteer counsellors at a women's community centre, and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: Emerging themes included the importance of personal therapy for trainee development, key elements of personal therapy and the idea that personal therapy is ‘a double‐edged sword’. Discussion: Allowing for evident methodological difficulties in evaluating the impact of personal therapy on trainees, this study suggests that close consideration should be given to the potentially adverse effects of reducing requirements for personal therapy in clinical trainings.     

Physical framework for a counselling environment in India: Thematic analysis of counsellors' perceptions

The influence of the physical environment on the counselling process is an inevitable part of a counselling session. However, there is little insight in Indian research into the desirable elements of the physical environment of the counselling room that helps facilitate a counselling session. Interviews were conducted with 10 professional counsellors in India. Thematic analysis of the data brought out various Basic and Organising themes under the following three Global themes: (a) Elements of the physical framework; (b) Counsellor's perspectives about the physical framework in counselling; and (c) Motivation to build a framework. The findings show how counsellors can systematise the physical framework to help construct the counselling session effectively.     

National piety: Religious equality,freedom of religion and national identity in Finnish political discourse

This paper analyses the legislative discourse regarding a Members' Initiative to enact a law which was discussed in the Finnish parliament in 2006 and which proposed changes to the constitution and several laws, the purpose of which was to balance the privileged position that the Lutheran Church of Finland enjoys. The author uses critical discourse analysis to examine four different discourses emerging from the debate: inequality of religions in the eyes of the law; the ‘completeness’ of the freedom of religion in Finland; the justified hegemony of the ‘folk church’; and the church as a value base in a pluralising world. He argues that the discursive struggle between the different positions is a struggle between ‘minimalist’ and ‘maximalist’ definitions of freedom of religion and that the discussion represents a case of ‘national piety’, a conflation of discourses of religious equality, freedom of religion and national identity that reproduces the status quo.     

Automatization of personal and impersonal discourse with narrative re-telling as a function of age

When older adults retell an impersonal story, the resulting narratives are typically characterized by more prolixity and less coherence than those produced by younger adults. We aimed to determine whether this pattern is also observed when retelling a personal narrative. Younger and older participants told a personal story three consecutive times. With retelling, no evidence of increased coherence or fluency or reduction in hesitancy was observed for either age group. The nature of autobiographical narrative construction explains why such stories are not subject to automatization. A failure to automatize personal narratives is not, therefore, a symptom of aging.