Relationships Between the Survey of Organizational Research Climate (SORC) and Self-Reported Research Practices

The Survey of Organizational Research Climate (SORC) is a validated tool to facilitate promotion of research integrity and research best practices. This work uses the SORC to assess shared and individual perceptions of the research climate in universities and academic departments and relate these perceptions to desirable and undesirable research practices. An anonymous web- and mail-based survey was administered to randomly selected biomedical and social science faculty and postdoctoral fellows in the United States. Respondents reported their perceptions of the research climates at their universities and primary departments, and the frequency with which they engaged in desirable and undesirable research practices. More positive individual perceptions of the research climate in one’s university or department were associated with higher likelihoods of desirable, and lower likelihoods of undesirable, research practices. Shared perceptions of the research climate tended to be similarly predictive of both desirable and undesirable research practices as individuals’ deviations from these shared perceptions. Study results supported the central prediction that more positive SORC-measured perceptions of the research climate were associated with more positive reports of research practices. There were differences with respect to whether shared or individual climate perceptions were related to desirable or undesirable practices but the general pattern of results provide empirical evidence that the SORC is predictive of self-reported research behavior.     

Development and Validation of the Survey of Organizational Research Climate (SORC)

Development and targeting efforts by academic organizations to effectively promote research integrity can be enhanced if they are able to collect reliable data to benchmark baseline conditions, to assess areas needing improvement, and to subsequently assess the impact of specific initiatives. To date, no standardized and validated tool has existed to serve this need. A web- and mail-based survey was administered in the second half of 2009 to 2,837 randomly selected biomedical and social science faculty and postdoctoral fellows at 40 academic health centers in top-tier research universities in the United States. Measures included the Survey of Organizational Research Climate (SORC) as well as measures of perceptions of organizational justice. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses yielded seven subscales of organizational research climate, all of which demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s α ranging from 0.81 to 0.87) and adequate test–retest reliability (Pearson r ranging from 0.72 to 0.83). A broad range of correlations between the seven subscales and five measures of organizational justice (unadjusted regression coefficients ranging from 0.13 to 0.95) document both construct and discriminant validity of the instrument. The SORC demonstrates good internal (alpha) and external reliability (test–retest) as well as both construct and discriminant validity.     

Support Groups for Suicide Survivors: Results of a Survey of Group Leaders

To update and expand Rubey and McIntosh's (1996) survivors of suicide support groups report, SPAN USA completed a survey of U.S. support group leaders (n = 100; 24% completion). There are now more survivor groups (from 280 to 417), and the majority of groups now have a survivor leader (78% vs. 25%). Groups continue to be small (88% < 10 members per session) and meet on a monthly basis (55%). Sharing continues to be a universal experience in groups, which tend to be open‐ended (85%). Current groups are newer, and more operate without a sponsor. Further research is needed to examine group member perspectives and effectiveness of groups.     

Plans and Semantics in Human Processing of Language

The analogy between humans and computers as language processors has previously been exploited primarily with respect to the parsing or analysis phase of processing, as opposed to a synthesis phrase. Here we pursue the analogy on the synthesis side by positing cognitive algorithms that correspond to target language code generated by a compiler. We consider the computational resource demands of these cognitive algorithms and compare them to what is required to carry out syntactic and semantic processing. It is argued that cognitive demands are responsible for certain empirical results in developmental psycholinguistics that have previously been attributed to syntactic complexity. The analysis suggests new empirical studies whose results, in turn, provide support for the analysis.     

Risk for Suicide among Medicaid Beneficiaries

Demographic, diagnostic, and service expenditure characteristics of Florida Medicaid enrollees who died by suicide were investigated. Among persons receiving Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), findings indicate the most powerful predictors of suicide were involuntary psychiatric examination, mental health hospitalization, and high mental health service use. Among Medicaid enrollees not receiving SSI, strongest suicide predictors were mental health hospitalization, high expenditures for physical health medications, and involuntary psychiatric examination. Findings suggest reducing involuntary psychiatric examinations and mental health hospitalizations while improving physical health may reduce suicide in the Medicaid population. Comprehensive hospital discharge planning, adherence monitoring with follow‐up care, training mental health providers in assessing suicide lethality, and providing adequate assessment time are all crucial to achieve these objectives.     

A Call for Research: The Need to Better Understand the Impact of Support Groups for Suicide Survivors

Support groups for suicide survivors (those individuals bereaved following a suicide) are widely used, but little research evidence is available to determine their efficacy. This paper outlines the pressing public health need to conduct research and determine effective ways to identify and meet the needs of suicide survivors, particularly through survivor support groups. After describing the various approaches to survivor support groups, we explain the need for further research, despite the inherent challenges. Finally, we pose several questions for researchers to consider as they work with survivors to develop a research agenda that sheds more light on the experiences of survivors and the help provided by survivor support groups.     

Predictors of Multiple Suicide Attempts among Suicidal Black Adolescents

Psychopathology, social support, and interpersonal orientation were studied in relation to suicide attempt status in acutely suicidal, psychiatrically hospitalized Black adolescents and a matched sample of White adolescents. In the total sample, multiple attempters were differentiated by lower perceived support. Within the Black youth subsample, social comparison and positive stimulation from others differentiated multiple attempters from single attempters/ideators. Only suicidal ideation predicted multiple attempts among White youth and only higher interpersonal orientation predicted multiple suicide attempts within Black adolescents.     

GOD EMBODIED IN,GOD BODYING FORTH THE WORLD: EMERGENCE AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY

Abstract. I expand on Philip Clayton's application of emergence—in the context of a metaphysical position he calls emergent monism—to conceiving God's relationship to the world. Like Clayton, I adopt a panentheistic perspective, but in a way that I argue is consistent with classical philosophical theism and its grammatical analysis of Christian discourse about divine transcendence. In order to exploit further the analogical potential of an emergentist account of human mentality and agency, I argue that the standard panentheistic metaphor The world is the body of God should be complemented by the metaphor God is the body of the world.     

‘Language of the past’ – Exploring past tense disruption during autobiographical narration in neurodegenerative disorders

Compromised retrieval of autobiographical memory (ABM) is well established in neurodegenerative disorders. The recounting of autobiographical events is inextricably linked to linguistic knowledge, yet no study to date has investigated whether tense use during autobiographical narration is disrupted in dementia syndromes. This study investigated the incidence of correct past tense use during ABM narration in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD, n = 10) and semantic dementia (SD, n = 10) in comparison with healthy older Controls (n = 10). Autobiographical narratives were analysed for episodic content (internal/external) and classified according to tense use (past/present). Across both patient groups, use of the past tense was significantly compromised relative to Controls, with increased levels of off‐target present tense verbs observed. Voxel‐based morphometry analyses based on structural MRI revealed differential associations between past tense use and regions of grey matter intensity in the brain. Bilateral temporal cortices were implicated in the SD group, whereas frontal, lateral, and medial temporal regions including the right hippocampus emerged in AD. This preliminary study provides the first demonstration of the disruption of specific linguistic constructs during autobiographical narration in AD and SD. Future studies are warranted to clarify at what point in the disease trajectory such deficits in tense use emerge, and whether these deficits are a product or contributing factor in memory disruption in these syndromes.