HIV/AIDS in scottish prisons: Attitudes of staff and prisoners

Abstract

Prison is commonly regarded as a high risk environment for the transmission of HIV/AIDS. Five hundred and fifty-nine prisoners and 591 prison staff sampled from 8 Scottish prisons completed questionnaires concerning attitudes towards various issues of HIVIAIDS. A majority of prisoners and prison staff expressed liberal attitudes with respect to HIV/AIDS. For both staff and prisoners, the most liberal responses were to items dealing with personal and social contact with people with HIVIAIDS. A majority of prisoners and prison staff expressed conservative attitudes in relation to screening of individuals for HIV. With regard to differences between prisoners and prison staff, prisoners were more supportive than prison staff of the provision of free condoms to homosexuals and free condoms and syringes to intravenous drug users, and the provision of free medical care to both groups in the case of AIDS. Among the prisoner sample, intravenous drug users, in comparison to non-users, were found to be more positive in their attitudes toward HIVIAIDS on a wide range of issues. The implications of the study for health psychology are discussed with regard to prisoner and prison staff educational needs and prisoner management.     

组织氛围对员工行为有效性的影响机制

该研究采用问卷调查法和专家评估法探讨员工行为有效性的影响机制.结果表明:(1)组织氛围对员工行为有效性有积极的影响.(2)员工的自我效能感在组织氛围与绩效间起完全中介作用,在组织氛围与组织承诺间起部分中介作用,在组织氛围与满意度之间没有中介效应.(3)员工的自我效能感、满意度和组织承诺在组织氛围与员工绩效间起完全中介作用.(4)组织氛围对员工绩效的影响存在双重中介效应.结论:组织氛围对员工绩效的影响机制非常复杂,不仅可以直接影响,而且还可以通过影响员工的自我效能感、满意度和组织承诺等多种中介效应来影响.     

EVALUATING STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE CAREPROVIDER PERFORMANCE ON HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS IN AN INFANT CARE FACILITY

Responding to administrative staff and parental concerns, using modified reversal and withdrawal designs, two experiments evaluated a staff-managed feedback system to improve the hygiene and developmental skills of children in an infant/toddler center. Experiment 1 examined feedback designed to increase staff performance in checking and changing diapers, and recording those changes. A chart plus supervisory feedback produced increases in and maintenance of staff performance. Experiment 2 compared an existing staff management system with a “playchart” plus feedback in increasing careprovider-infant stimulation. The data (with follow-up on a new staff) supported the use of the new feedback system. Questionnaire data further supported the utility of the playchart system.     

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF VERBAL INSTRUCTION ON TEACHING BEHAVIOR-MODIFICATION SKILLS TO NONPROFESSIONALS1

The effectiveness of a mastery criterion, lecture-based training program for teaching behavior modification to sheltered workshop personnel was evaluated. Staff performance was assessed in terms of: (1) verbal proficiency, as determined from a pre- and posttraining written exam, and (2) application proficiency, as measured by the frequency and appropriateness of staff responses to client behaviors. A direct count was made of the number of positive, negative, and neutral statements following client appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, and the number and type of client behaviors ignored. Thus, it was possible to determine the extent of generalization from classroom to applied settings, as well as the appropriateness of lectures for training specific performance skills. Lecture units introduced stimulus control procedures, shaping-chaining, and contingency management. Characteristic features of the training program were frequent testing, study objectives, immediate remediation, and contingent reinforcement. Verbal instruction was shown to be effective in improving subjects' verbal skills concerning behavior-modification principles, while only partially effective in improving application skills. There was an increase in the total number of staff-client interactions observed for all subjects, but only two of the response classes emphasized in the training program (reinforcing desirable client behavior and ignoring undesirable behavior) showed considerable improvement over pretraining levels. Despite this partial improvement, verbal instruction alone was shown to be insufficient for teaching the full range of behavior-modification skills required to function effectively in applied settings.     

Clinical Frequencies Recording System: Standardizing staff observations by event recording

Certain aspects of staff performance and resident behavior are less adequately assessed by standardized time sampling procedures than by complete recording of the incidence of specified events. An approach to gathering such data through systematizing the observations of clinical staff — the Clinical Frequencies Recording System — is described. Scores from the Clinical Frequencies System reflect the rate per opportunity with which individual behaviors are performed, with computer summarization providing higher-level behavioral indexes for research and evaluation purposes. Staff training and system implementation are discussed, and reliability and validity data from a system employed on two different treatment units over a period of several years are presented.The research reported in this article was supported, in part, by Public Health Service Grants MH-15553 and MH-25464 from the National Institute of Mental Health.Presented at the 87th Annual Meetings of the American Psychological Association, New York City, September 1979, as part of a symposium on New assessment systems for residential treatment, management, research, and evaluation.     

A STAFF MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR MAINTAINING IMPROVEMENTS IN CONTINENCE WITH ELDERLY NURSING HOME RESIDENTS

We developed a staff management system for maintaining treatment gains achieved on a specialized continence unit located in a geriatric nursing home. Geriatric assistants learned to use a prompted voiding procedure to maintain improved dryness for 4 elderly residents. The staff management system included self-monitoring and recording of prompted voiding activities and supervisory monitoring and feedback based on group performance of these activities. Results show that the system was effective in maintaining prompted voiding activities with corresponding maintenance of improved patient continence. However, a gradual decline in staff performance was noted 4 to 5 months after the initiation of the system. During a subsequent phase of the study, provision of individual feedback restored staff performance to previous levels. Results are discussed in relation to the practicality of prompted voiding interventions in nursing home environments and the applicability of staff management systems in this setting.     

Conflict management styles and work-related well-being among higher education employees

The objective of the study was to assess the relationship between conflict management styles and work-related well-being of employees in a higher education institution in South Africa. Participants were academic personnel (n = 180) and support staff (n = 201), of which 59.9% were females and 29.9% were black African participants of a large South African university. They completed self-report measures of conflict management and work-related well-being. The data were analysed to predict work-related well-being from conflict management styles and to determine the differences between support staff and academic personnel regarding conflict management styles and work-related well-being. Findings indicated the conflict management style of compromise to predict lower levels of engagement and higher levels of disengagement. Support staff reported to utilise the compromising and dominating style more than did academic personnel. Diversity in conflict management styles may serve organisations better than a monolithic conflict management style.     

医护人员对癌症告知态度的调查研究

为了了解医护人员对癌症告知的态度,对634名医护人员进行问卷调查。结果显示,医护人员不十分赞同将真情完全告知患者,其告知意愿在一定程度上取决于患者的知情愿望,他们比较认同家属拥有决策权,且普遍认为患者不是充分知晓病情。因此,医护人员应该增强告知认识,尊重患者告知意愿,引导家属告知观念,努力提高患者知情程度。