Loving thy work: developing a measure of work passion

ABSTRACT

Passion for work has become increasingly valued, as reflected by its ubiquity in popular and empirical discourse. Yet we lack scientific consensus on the definition of work passion, and a reliable, well-validated measure of work passion that is relevant to workers across various vocations. In this paper, we identified and integrated key themes from existing scientific conceptualizations into a precise definition: Passion for work means to strongly identify with a line of work that one feels motivated to engage in and derives positive affect from doing. We developed a 10-item Work Passion (WP) scale, which we tested across multiple studies with a total of 858 adults, including working adults from two different English-speaking cultural backgrounds (i.e., United States and Singapore), and a two-wave study of employees from various vocations. Our results showed that work passion is associated with a host of beneficial outcomes, including greater career commitment, lower levels of job burnout, less work-home conflict, and fewer physical symptoms. Our research (1) provides an integrated definition of work passion, (2) offers a reliable, cross-culturally tested scale, and (3) highlights important implications for work outcomes associated with being passionate towards one’s line of work.     

Text-based E-contact: Harnessing cooperative Internet interactions to bridge the social and psychological divide

ABSTRACT

In order to bridge the psychological and physical divide between different groups, researchers have harnessed the positive elements of the Internet to improve intergroup contact. One new and effective Internet strategy is Electronic- or E-contact. Unlike other contact approaches, E-contact is an experimental intergroup intervention that uniquely accommodates Allport’s contact theory and recategorisation processes, to create a structured, cooperative, synchronous and goal-directed online text interaction between members from different groups. E-contact has been found to successfully improve intergroup relations between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland and Muslims and Catholics in Australia; and reduce bias against lesbian women and gay men, people with schizophrenia, Indigenous Australians, and transgender individuals. This paper discusses the unique engineering and advantages of E-contact interventions in comparison to existing contact strategies, identifies the theories that guide E-contact interventions, provides meta-analytic evidence of its effects, and discusses the strengths, limitations and future directions for E-contact research.     

Suicide Prevention in Australian Aboriginal Communities: A Review of Past and Present Programs

A review of Aboriginal suicide prevention programs were conducted to highlight promising projects and strategies. A content analysis of gray literature was conducted to identify interventions reported to have an impact in reducing suicidal rates and behaviors. Most programs targeted the whole community and were delivered through workshops, cultural activities, or creative outlets. Curriculums included suicide risk and protective factors, warning signs, and mental health. Many programs were poorly documented and evaluations did not include suicidal outcomes. Most evaluations considered process variables. Results from available outcome evaluations suggest that employing a whole of community approach and focusing on connectedness, belongingness and cultural heritage may be of benefit. Despite the challenges, there is a clear need to evaluate outcomes if prevention is to be progressed.