Likelihood to Use Employee Assistance Programs: The Effects of Sociodemographic,Social-Psychological,Sociocultural, Organizational,and Community Factors

Reported are the results of an empirical study that examined the likelihood of employees to use Employee Assistance Program services.     

The Aged Are Family Members

Research reveals that the notion of the aged being abandoned or dumped by families is a myth. In general close ties and mutually responsible behavior continue. For those engaged in family treatment, older families and intergenerational relationships are a clinical frontier. Practitioners have the opportunity to experience and observe, in depth, the emotional quality and meaning of intergenerational relations. Older family members may play important roles in the family dynamics. It is hypothesized that their inclusion when appropriate in the treatment of younger families can be a preventive measure to forestall cyclical repetition of pathological relationship patterns. Just as family therapists are committed to the premise that many nuclear families are capable of psychological growth and change, they must become aware that aged family members have similar capacities. If intergenerational relationships are modified then family members in all the generations could be benefited.     

Exploring a Moral Landscape: Genetic Science and Ethics

This project draws on scholarship of feminist and womanist scholars, and on results of interviews with scientists currently involved in molecular genetics. With reference to Margaret Urban Walker's “practices of moral responsibility,” the social practices of molecular geneticists are exphred, and strategies identified through which scientists negotiate their moral responsibilities. The implications of this work for scientists and for feminists are discussed.     

Effects of Quantity and Quality Instructions on Brainstorming

One of the basic presumptions of brainstorming is that a focus on generating a large number of ideas enhances both the number of ideas generated and the number of good ideas (original and useful). Prior research has not clearly demonstrated the utility of such a quantity focus in comparison to a condition in which quantity is not emphasized. There have been some comparisons of the impact of quantity and quality focus on the number and quality of ideas, but the results of these comparisons have been mixed. The present study examined brainstorming with four different types of instructions: no specific focus, a quantity goal, a quality goal, or a joint quantity and quality goal. The quantity goal condition was superior to the other three conditions in leading to the generation of more ideas and more good ideas. These findings support Osborn's (1953) assumption that a quantity focus is most beneficial for brainstorming.