“Heaven and Hell on Earth” A critical discourse analysis of religious terms in Norwegian autobiographies describing personal experience of mental health problems

This article explores the use of religious terms in six Norwegian autobiographies written between 1925 and 2005 by people who themselves have been patients in the mental health services. Through a critical discourse analysis, we discuss the functions of religious discourse in the texts and its position in contrast to the medical discourse predominant in today's mental health services. It was found that religious (predominantly Christian) terms were used to varying degrees in all autobiographies as a means to capture the immensity and inherent ambivalence characteristic of mental health problems. Despite the “medical turn” in professional mental health discourse, there is no clear evidence of a decrease in the use of religious terms from the oldest to the most recent text. We propose that professional mental health workers to a larger extent take into account the religious dimension in therapy, and reflect on its larger historical and sociocultural context.     

Career-related dispositional factors in relation to retention within the retail sector: An exploratory study

The study aimed to explore the extent to which employees’ organisational commitment and career adaptability predicted employee retention factors in the South African retail sector; taking employee demographics into account. A sample of 224 early to mid-career permanent retail employees participated in the study (single?=?51.3%; female?=?53.1%; mixed-race?=?50.9%). The participants responded to surveys on their organisational commitment, career adaptability, and retention factors. A stepwise regression analysis was computed to predict employee retention factors from their organisational commitment and career adaptability. Results suggested the organisational commitment and career adaptability to explain 16% of the variance in employee retention factors. Of the organisation commitment factors, affective commitment was the most predictive of employee retention; followed by normative commitment. The career adaptability factor of curiosity predicted work-life balance. Talent retention in the retail sector appears to be explained by organisational commitment factors relatively more so than by career adaptability factors.     

Personal factors in talent retention in the South African banking industry

This study explored the influence of personal factors on job retention in a banking services sector setting. South African banking sector employees (n = 262) participated in the study (age range = 18–45 years; female = 62%, white = 57%). The participants were equally distributed in the different geographical locations (metropolitan areas = 53%, inland areas = 47%). The employees self-reported on their personal factors (emotional intelligence and self-esteem) and job retention factors. Regression analysis revealed personal factors as a composite variable to predict the talent retention factors of job characteristics, supervisor support, career opportunities, and work/life balance. Furthermore, the results indicated no significant differences in personal factors and retention factors by geographical location. The findings contribute new insights to the talent retention literature by presenting the importance of the personal attributes and demographical differences of employees.     

The Menstrual Mark: Menstruation as Social Stigma

In this theoretical paper, we argue that menstruation is a source of social stigma for women. The word stigma refers to any stain or mark that renders the individual’s body or character defective. This stigma is transmitted through powerful socialization agents in popular culture such as advertisements and educational materials. We demonstrate, in our review of the psychological literature concerning attitudes and experiences of predominantly American girls and women, that the stigmatized status of menstruation has important consequences for their health, sexuality, and well-being. We argue that the stigma of menstruation both reflects and contributes to women’s lower social status and conclude with suggestions for ways to resist the stigma.     

Positioning Periods: Menstruation in Social Context: An Introduction to a Special Issue

The menstrual cycle is often conceptualized in the biomedical literature as a unidimensional, biological, and pathological aspect of women’s bodies and health. Feminist social science scholars recognize that the biological event of menstruation is experienced and perceived within a broader sociocultural context. The authors of articles in this special issue address the myriad ways menstruation is positioned within this social context, and the consequences for women’s well-being, cognitive functioning, health, sexuality, and social status. Authors examine menstruation as a social stigma, the positioning of menstruation in popular culture, contextual factors relevant to menstruation across the lifespan, the ways women negotiate menstruation in their lives, and the role of women’s social location in shaping their attitudes toward and experiences with menstruation. Implications for future research, education, activism, and clinical intervention are considered.     

Organizational Creativity and Innovation in Relation to Psychological Well-Being and Organizational Factors

The two objectives of the research reported in this article were to investigate the relationship between organizational creativity and innovation and psychological well-being of employees, as well as the relationship between organizational factors and organizational creativity and innovation. Ninety-five employees working in a high-tech field of industry participated in the study. The relationships were tested in a LISREL model and the result showed a significant relationship between perceived organizational creativity and innovation and individual psychological well-being. Of the organizational factors included in the model, organizational climate and work resources were found to be significantly related to perceived creativity and innovation in the organization. Taken together, the results suggest that enhancing the conditions for creativity and innovation is beneficial for the individual in terms of better psychological well-being.     

Listening while talking: The retention of prose under articulatory suppression in relation to simultaneous interpreting

According to working memory theory (e.g., Baddeley & Logie, 1999) articulatory suppression (AS) prevents rehearsal in the articulatory loop of to be remembered material, which, in turn, has a disruptive effect on recall. Simultaneous interpreting is an activity where people routinely comprehend and maintain speech while articulating at the same time. We examined whether AS also affects retention when, as in interpreting, coherent text is to be remembered or meaningful and phonologically more complex material is articulated. In the first part of the study, participants listened to a set of stories, and were involved in traditional or complex AS. Also coherence of the texts was manipulated. We found that the effects of AS generalises to stories, that coherence influences recall and that both variables interact. In the second part, we related individual differences in retention under conditions of AS to simultaneous interpreting performance. The results are discussed in terms of the episodic buffer component (e.g., Baddeley, 2000).