Responding to the Psychological Needs of Health-Care Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Case Study from the Medical College of Wisconsin

With the advent of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, health-care workers have been faced with an inordinately high level of trauma as frontline providers. The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) partnered with affiliate hospitals and community partners to mobilize a matrix of available support and interventions to deliver psychological services to reach all levels of health-care providers in timely, accessible formats. While virtual peer support groups were the most utilized resource among the support group options, other opportunities also provided unique benefits to learners whose education had been disrupted by the pandemic. Mental health must be prioritized for health-care workers in the event of future public health crises. Lessons learned from this pandemic indicate that it is critical to involve learners early on in the process in order to meet their educational needs and to increase access to evidence-based care.

     

Sample size determinations for Welch's test in one‐way heteroscedastic ANOVA

For one‐way fixed effects ANOVA, it is well known that the conventional F test of the equality of means is not robust to unequal variances, and numerous methods have been proposed for dealing with heteroscedasticity. On the basis of extensive empirical evidence of Type I error control and power performance, Welch's procedure is frequently recommended as the major alternative to the ANOVA F test under variance heterogeneity. To enhance its practical usefulness, this paper considers an important aspect of Welch's method in determining the sample size necessary to achieve a given power. Simulation studies are conducted to compare two approximate power functions of Welch's test for their accuracy in sample size calculations over a wide variety of model configurations with heteroscedastic structures. The numerical investigations show that Levy's (1978a) approach is clearly more accurate than the formula of Luh and Guo (2011) for the range of model specifications considered here. Accordingly, computer programs are provided to implement the technique recommended by Levy for power calculation and sample size determination within the context of the one‐way heteroscedastic ANOVA model.     

Disagreement behind the veil of ignorance

In this paper we argue that there is a kind of moral disagreement that survives the Rawlsian veil of ignorance. While a veil of ignorance eliminates sources of disagreement stemming from self-interest, it does not do anything to eliminate deeper sources of disagreement. These disagreements not only persist, but transform their structure once behind the veil of ignorance. We consider formal frameworks for exploring these differences in structure between interested and disinterested disagreement, and argue that consensus models offer us a solution concept for disagreements behind the veil of ignorance.     

Rating Scales as Predictors—The Old Question of Scale Level and Some Answers

Rating scales as predictors in regression models are typically treated as metrically scaled variables or, alternatively, are coded in dummy variables. The first approach implies a scale level that is not justified, the latter approach results in a large number of parameters to be estimated. Therefore, when rating scales are dummy-coded, applications are often restricted to the use of a few predictors. The penalization approach advocated here takes the scale level serious by using only the ordering of categories but is shown to work in the high dimensional case. We consider the proper modeling of rating scales as predictors and selection procedures by using penalization methods that are tailored to ordinal predictors. In addition to the selection of predictors, the clustering of categories is investigated. Existing methodology is extended to the wider class of generalized linear models. Moreover, higher order differences that allow shrinkage towards a polynomial as well as monotonicity constraints and alternative penalties are introduced. The proposed penalization approaches are illustrated by use of the Motivational States Questionnaire.     

Working with unrealistic or unshared hope in the counselling session

Hope has long been identified as an important therapeutic factor in counselling. Further, research evidence for the importance of hope to counselling practice and outcome is abundant. However, the field is only beginning to explicitly consider how hope can be effectively and intentionally practised. One of the most challenging dilemmas encountered by counsellors committed to working with this important therapeutic factor is that of so-called unrealistic hope. In this paper, we outline two real-life counselling vignettes illustrating unrealistic hope, and consider these scenarios alongside relevant scholarship and practice experience. Guiding principles and practices for conceptualising and working with unrealistic hope are offered as a means of beginning the conversation about this complex aspect of working with client hope.     

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Utrecht Grief Rumination Scale

Two different types of ruminative coping, depressive rumination and grief rumination, negatively influence bereavement outcome. Although grief-specific rumination is likely to be relevant in the bereavement context no internationally validated scale to measure grief rumination exists. Therefore, the current contribution aims to validate the Utrecht Grief Rumination Scale (UGRS), a scale developed to measure grief-specific rumination, in an English sample. Psychometric properties of the English UGRS were compared with those in a Dutch sample. 204 British adults (89 % women, 11 % men), bereaved on average 16 months ago, and 316 Dutch adults (88 % women, 12 % men), bereaved on average 12 months ago, filled out online questionnaires. Different types of rumination (grief rumination, brooding, reflection, trait rumination) and symptoms of psychopathology (anxiety, depression, complicated grief) were measured. A correlated five factor model provided the best fit for the UGRS. Multi-group comparisons showed that the factor structures of the English and Dutch version of the UGRS were highly similar across language groups. The UGRS showed excellent reliability. Results further supported the construct, convergent, divergent and concurrent validity of the English UGRS. The psychometric properties of the Dutch UGRS corroborated these findings. The UGRS appears a valid instrument to assess grief-specific rumination in international research and may have potential applicability as a clinical instrument to assess rumination in individuals with problematic grief.     

Building an Environmental Ethics from the Confucian Concepts of Zhengming and Datong

From the ‘DuPont factory’ case in China, one can see that contemporary ecology is faced with two underlying problems: A lack of responsibility toward the environment beyond being economically profitable, and a lack of care for what is outside of one’s immediate environment. For the purpose of confronting these two problems, I suggest two Confucian concepts: 1. zhengming 正名 (Rectification of names) and 2. datong 大同 (Great Harmony). These two concepts can be used to develop an environmental ethics and thus play a crucial role in solving the two above-mentioned problems. Zhengming is originally a political concept that was put forward by Confucius. According to this concept, everyone should fulfill their duty to the utmost in accordance with their individual roles. Datong is Confucius’ political ideal and emphasizes gong 公 (public) as a spirit for caring for tian xia 天下 (all under Heaven). A Confucian-style harmonious society is achieved by ‘letting every being manifest its mandate to the full’ (ge jin xing fen 各盡性分). When we turn toward the natural environment instead of political affairs, these concepts of zhengming and datong can become a proactive view of environmental ethics. From this view, zhengming emphasizes that ‘humans fulfill their responsibility of being humans’ (ren ren 人人). This means that humans should take responsibility toward the natural world, and one might say that ren ren implies an impetus for protecting the environment. Similarly, datong emphasizes caring for tian xia, by not limiting oneself to certain races, species, national boundaries, or geographical regions. Because of this, I believe that zhengming and datong can certainly resolve the above-mentioned problems: A lack of a sense of responsibility toward the environment, and a lack of a sense of care for what is outside of the confines of one’s immediate environment.     

Selectors' Decision Strategies when Assessing Immigrant Job Applicants

Immigrant job applicants are often not fluent in the majority language. This raises the question whether selectors adjust their decision strategy when selecting immigrants. In two field studies (N = 1,949 and N = 156), we examined the decision strategies of professional selectors. Selectors used differential strategies, giving less weight to the test scores and impression scores of immigrants. Dutch language proficiency served as a moderator variable; test scores were considered less important in the employment recommendation especially for immigrants with low language skills. Yet professional selectors also used similar strategies for different groups; the same test scores led to the same recommendations, regardless of ethnicity. In sum, personnel selectors adjusted their decision strategy for immigrants, but this did not lead to immigrants receiving higher recommendations than majority applicants with similar test scores.