Work Meaning Patterns in Early Career

Abstract

Work meaning patterns combine dimensions such as work centrality, expressive versus economic work goals, and entitlement versus obligation societal norms into a holistic picture of the evolution over time of the meaning of work. Data from a longitudinal study in eight countries are used to establish major work meaning patterns and to study their stability during early career paths. Further, some potential determinants of these work meaning patterns are analysed and their consequences for later careers are considered. Statistical analyses include: cluster analysis, multiple discriminant analysis, analysis of covariance combined with multiple classification analysis, analysis of variance, and chi-square analysis. Five cross-national work meaning patterns are identified for machine operators in their third year in the labour market. One-third of the sample had remained in the same work meaning pattern for 2 years, while two-thirds had changed their work pattern. Respondents' age, country, prior work environment, and prior work socialization behaviours and outcomes have an impact on work meanings held 2 years later. In addition the respondent's work meaning pattern allows subsequent career enhancing strategies and effort expenditure at the job to be predicted.     

The relationship between forgiveness and history of suicide attempt

The sentiment of forgiveness in relationship to suicide attempts/completions has been mostly examined through studies of suicide notes and the experiences of survivors and therapists – not attempters. In a cross-sectional sample of 304 consecutive primary care patients, we examined sentiments about forgiveness using the Forgiveness Scale, comparing those individuals with versus without past suicide attempts. According to findings, individuals with past suicide attempts (N?=?55; 19.1%) evidenced significantly lower composite scores on the Forgiveness Scale. As for individual items, compared to participants without past suicide attempts, those with past suicide attempts were significantly less believing of forgiveness by others, were less likely to forgive themselves, and to a lesser degree, were less forgiving of others. There were no between-group differences with regard to confession of wrongdoing or existential forgiveness by God. Findings may offer some salient avenues of therapeutic inquiry and endeavour in the psychological healing of individuals with past suicide attempts.     

Promoting social responsibility amongst health care users: medical tourists’ perspectives on an information sheet regarding ethical concerns in medical tourism

Background

Medical tourists, persons that travel across international borders with the intention to access non-emergency medical care, may not be adequately informed of safety and ethical concerns related to the practice of medical tourism. Researchers indicate that the sources of information frequently used by medical tourists during their decision-making process may be biased and/or lack comprehensive information regarding individual safety and treatment outcomes, as well as potential impacts of the medical tourism industry on third parties. This paper explores the feedback from former Canadian medical tourists regarding the use of an information sheet to address this knowledge gap and raise awareness of the safety and ethical concerns related to medical tourism.

Results

According to feedback provided in interviews with former Canadian medical tourists, the majority of participants responded positively to the information sheet and indicated that this document prompted them to engage in further consideration of these issues. Participants indicated some frustration after reading the information sheet regarding a lack of know-how in terms of learning more about the concerns discussed in the document and changing their decision-making. This frustration was due to participants’ desperation for medical care, a topic which participants frequently discussed regarding ethical concerns related to health care provision.

Conclusions

The overall perceptions of former medical tourists indicate that an information sheet may promote further consideration of ethical concerns of medical tourism. However, given that these interviews were performed with former medical tourists, it remains unknown whether such a document might impact upon the decision-making of prospective medical tourists. Furthermore, participants indicated a need for an additional tool such as a website for continued discussion about these concerns. As such, along with dissemination of the information sheet, future research implications should include the development of a website for ongoing discussion that could contribute to a raised awareness of these concerns and potentially increase social responsibility in the medical tourism industry.

     

Visual movement perception in deaf and hearing individuals

A number of studies have investigated changes in the perception of visual motion as a result of altered sensory experiences. An animal study has shown that auditory-deprived cats exhibit enhanced performance in a visual movement detection task compared to hearing cats (Lomber, Meredith, & Kral, 2010). In humans, the behavioural evidence regarding the perception of motion is less clear. The present study investigated deaf and hearing adult participants using a movement localization task and a direction of motion task employing coherently-moving and static visual dot patterns. Overall, deaf and hearing participants did not differ in their movement localization performance, although within the deaf group, a left visual field advantage was found. When discriminating the direction of motion, however, deaf participants responded faster and tended to be more accurate when detecting small differences in direction compared with the hearing controls. These results conform to the view that visual abilities are enhanced after auditory deprivation and extend previous findings regarding visual motion processing in deaf individuals.     

Simultaneous and preceding sounds enhance rapid visual targets: Evidence from the attentional blink

Presenting two targets in a rapid visual stream will frequently result in the second target (T2) being missed when presented shortly after the first target (T1). This so-called attentional blink (AB) phenomenon can be reduced by various experimental manipulations. This study investigated the effect of combining T2 with a non-specific sound, played either simultaneously with T2 or preceding T2 by a fixed latency. The reliability of the observed effects and their correlation with potential predictors were studied. The tone significantly improved T2 identification rates regardless of tone condition and of the delay between targets, suggesting that the crossmodal facilitation of T2 identification is not limited to visual-perceptual enhancement. For the simultaneous condition, an additional time-on-task effect was observed in form of a reduction of the AB that occurred within an experimental session. Thus, audition-driven enhancement of visual perception may need some time for its full potential to evolve. Split-half and test-retest reliability were found consistently only for a condition without additional sound. AB magnitude obtained in this condition was related to AB magnitudes obtained in both sound conditions. Self-reported distractibility and performance in tests of divided attention and of cognitive flexibility correlated with the AB magnitudes of a subset but never all conditions under study. Reliability and correlation results suggest that not only dispositional abilities but also state factors exert an influence on AB magnitude. These findings extend earlier work on audition-driven enhancement of target identification in the AB and on the reliability and behavioural correlates of the AB.     

Coarse guidance by numerosity in visual search

In five experiments, we examined whether the number of items can guide visual focal attention. Observers searched for the target area with the largest (or smallest) number of dots (squares in Experiment 4 and “checkerboards” in Experiment 5) among distractor areas with a smaller (or larger) number of dots. Results of Experiments 1 and 2 show that search efficiency is determined by target to distractor dot ratios. In searches where target items contained more dots than did distractor items, ratios over 1.5:1 yielded efficient search. Searches for targets where target items contained fewer dots than distractor items were harder. Here, ratios needed to be lower than 1:2 to yield efficient search. When the areas of the dots and of the squares containing them were fixed, as they were in Experiments 1 and 2, dot density and total dot area increased as dot number increased. Experiment 3 removed the density and area cues by allowing dot size and total dot area to vary. This produced a marked decline in search performance. Efficient search now required ratios of above 3:1 or below 1:3. By using more realistic and isoluminant stimuli, Experiments 4 and 5 show that guidance by numerosity is fragile. As is found with other features that guide focal attention (e.g., color, orientation, size), the numerosity differences that are able to guide attention by bottom-up signals are much coarser than the differences that can be detected in attended stimuli.     

Retrieval-induced forgetting and unwanted thought intrusions

The act of retrieving an existing memory has been found to inhibit the recall of related memories, a phenomenon known as retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). The purpose of the present study was to investigate the hypothesis that individuals with a strong RIF effect might be better at suppressing unwanted intrusive thoughts. In Experiment 1 the relationship between RIF and the prevalence of intrusive thoughts was investigated using a sample of 58 normal British participants, who completed three different questionnaires to measure their susceptibility to intrusive thoughts, obsessional thoughts, and impulsive thoughts. Their susceptibility to RIF was also measured, using the standard procedure introduced by Anderson, Bjork, and Bjork (1994). The results showed a significant RIF effect, and, although no significant correlations were found between RIF strength and any of the three measures of intrusive thoughts, there was some evidence to suggest a possible relationship between RIF and intrusive thoughts. In an effort to clarify these inconclusive findings, Experiment 2 investigated the relationship between RIF and intrusive thoughts in a different and more varied population sample, consisting of 90 normal members of the Greek population. Experiment 2 confirmed the RIF effect, but no significant association was found between RIF and intrusive thoughts. These findings therefore offer no support for the hypothesis that RIF assists the suppression of intrusive thoughts in normal individuals.     

Exploring the edges: boundaries and breaks

In this article, we examine conceptual and practical issues pertaining to relationship boundaries within the helping profession. Although our focus is primarily on relationships between mental health professionals and clients, there are considerable implications for a new approach to ethically structuring and understanding the construct of "required distance" in many human-interactive professions, such as teaching, religious leadership, public administration, and others. We define the concept of boundary as applied to human relationships, provide examples of boundary breaks, and raise questions regarding how to evaluate the significance and morality issues raised by specific boundary breaks. Questions and dilemmas are presented regarding boundary setting and accidental or deliberate boundary breaking. Representative dangers present in boundary breaks are identified, and examples are provided. Possible beneficial outcomes are also discussed. Finally, a suggested protocol for assessing a proposed boundary break is provided, much of which is drawn from the work and thinking of Laura Brown, applied more generally in this article, with additions from our perspectives.