Contraintes temporelles et qualité du travail dans l’activité des soignants

This article investigates the relationships between care activity and temporal constrains. The main objective is to understand the constrain effects on care givers activity. It is aimed at understanding the effects of the requirements on care givers activity. A research-action of eighteen month was conducted within a residential establishment for older dependent people and studied the activity of thirty four care givers. Our theoretical frame associates both work clinic and ergonomics. Investigations method combined both observation and interviews. The analysis of the care givers activity shows the effects of the organizational constrains on the activity. The care givers activity focuses on time organization rather than care. Finally, the quality of work is impaired, the work looses its sense and misses its primary objectives.     

Can sleep habits predict driver behaviour?

IntroductionThe role of sleep hygiene (those factors that promote or disrupt effective sleep) on human performance was examined.ObjectiveThe study investigated the relationship between sleep hygiene and crash involvement.MethodMeasures of sleep hygiene and crash involvement were considered for a sample of over 6000 drivers.ResultsIt was found that poorer sleep hygiene was associated with younger age and greater crash involvement. The association between sleep hygiene and crash involvement remained when age and risk taking had been taken into account.ConclusionPoor sleep hygiene is associated with poorer performance as measured by crash involvement.     

Implementation of automatic speed enforcement: Covariation with young drivers’ reported speeding behaviour and motivations

IntroductionSpeeding represents one of the main causes of road crashes worldwide, particularly among young drivers who are over-represented in road-crash statistics. For promoting road safety in France, an automatic speed enforcement (ASE) system was introduced late 2002.ObjectiveIn order to examine its efficiency on speeding and its motivations, we compared young drivers’ intentions and beliefs about speeding between the introduction of ASE (T1) and its completion in 2005 (T2) via a large survey based on the extended Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). We assumed the introduction of the ASE would covariate with a reduction in intention to speeding between T1 and T2 and a change in the extended TPB factors according to gender and driving experience.MethodOne thousand one hundred and ninety-two young participants (49.7% men) divided into novice, beginner, and more-experienced drivers filled in a questionnaire based on the extended TPB about their driving behaviour and history at T1 and 24 months later (T2).ResultsMen, beginner and more-experienced drivers expressed more intention to speeding within the next 12 months at T1 and showed a higher decrease in intention between T1 and T2 as compared to women and novice drivers. The extended TPB accounted for 59% of the variance in the decrease of the intention to speeding. Its main predictors were: lower perceived behavioural control over speeding, less social pressure, lower perceived similarity with the prototypical deviant driver, and higher comparative optimism. Secondly, slightly more positive behavioural beliefs and more negative outcome evaluations predicted this decrease.ConclusionPractical implications of the findings for road safety are discussed.     

Behavioural Change Techniques used in road safety interventions for young people

IntroductionDeath and injury from road traffic is a public health problem worldwide and accordingly there is substantial interest and investment in developing interventions to change road user behaviour. Alongside this, there is growing awareness of the need to evaluate interventions and to identify the most effective mechanisms by which behaviour can be changed. Progress has been hindered due to lack of a common taxonomy with which to define specific techniques used in attempts to change behaviour.ObjectiveBehavioural Change Techniques (BCTs) have been successfully deployed to change a range of different health behaviours. This paper defines a series of BCTs that can be applied in the road safety setting and asks which ones are found in road safety interventions for young road users?MethodAbraham and Michie (2008) identified twenty-six techniques used in behavioural change interventions. These BCTs, plus one other adapted from forensic psychology, are classified into nine groupings. Six educational road safety interventions commonly used in the UK with pre-drivers and young, novice drivers are characterised in terms of the BCTs they employ.ResultsOnly a small subset of BCTs are employed in most of the interventions. They concentrate primarily on increasing awareness of the risks associated with a particular behaviour, and the severity of the potential adverse consequences.ConclusionRecommendations are given for improving the effectiveness of road safety interventions for young people including young, novice drivers by increasing the range of BCTs deployed.     

Analyse d’un modèle théorique de la conception dimensionnelle du narcissisme pathologique : incidences probables sur le leadership organisationnel

The purpose of this case study is to examine the appropriateness of the dimensional model of pathological narcissism developed by Roche, Pincus, Lukowitsky, Ménard and Conroy (2013). The exploration was essentially focused on decompensatory segment (failure of maladaptive self-enhancement strategies) of this model. By using a longitudinal research design, the results, although fragmentary, isolated a positive relationship between the two dimensions – grandiosity and vulnerability – of pathological narcissism. This positive relationship exists both in compensatory segment (use of maladaptive self-enhancement strategies) and in decompensatory segment of the model.     

Saccadic peak velocity as an alternative index of operator attention: A short review

IntroductionAutomation research has identified the need to monitor operator attentional states in real time as a basis for determining the most appropriate type and level of automated assistance for operators doing complex tasks.ObjectiveThe development of a methodology that is able to detect on-line operator attentional state variations could represent a good starting point to solve this critical issue.ResultsWe present a short review of the literature on different indices of attentional state and discuss a series of experiments that demonstrates the validity and sensitivity of a specific eye movement index: saccadic peak velocity (PV). PV was able to detect variations in mental state while doing complex and ecological tasks, ranging from air traffic control simulated tasks to driving simulator sessions.ConclusionThis research could provide several guidelines for designing adaptive systems (able to allocate tasks between operators and machine in a dynamic way) and early fatigue-and-distraction warning systems to reduce accident risk.     

L’habilitation des salariés : le rôle du supérieur et des collègues

Organizational initiatives to empower employees have limited success if they are supported only by top managers. The goal of this study is to examine how two actors in the workers’ proximal social environment, the supervisor and colleagues, contribute to employee empowerment. A questionnaire study was conducted with a sample of 418 workers relying both on psychological and behavioral self-report measures of employee empowerment. Multiple regressions revealed that contributions from the supervisor and colleagues are distinct, additive and interact in a synergic way to increase employee empowerment. These results suggest that it is important to foster favorable conditions in the workers’ proximal social environment to instill employee empowerment.     

The perceptions of social context (PoSC): Introducing the PoSC scale

IntroductionThe Perception of Social Context refers to the perceptions that workers have of (1) the immediate supervisor, (2) the colleagues, and (3) top management of their organization.ObjectiveThe purpose of the present paper is to introduce the Perceptions of Social Context (PoSC) scale, an instrument for assessing workers’ perception of their social context.MethodWe used three studies (N total = 960) to test the internal, external, convergent, and predictive validity of the PoSC, as well as its reliability.ResultsIn Study 1, the hypothesized three-factor structure was empirically tested and supported by means of exploratory structural equation modeling. Study 2 provided further support for the factorial structure of the scale and evidence for its convergent and external validity in relation to important organizational variables. Study 3 provided evidence for the predictive validity with respect to job satisfaction and performance.ConclusionEstablished validity allows the PoSC scale to be used to specifically detect behaviors enacted by key social constituents and thus to plan specific and therefore more effective interventions.     

Enhancing parental reflective functioning: A special tribute to the life and work of Nancy E. Suchman,PhD

Nancy E. Suchman's contributions to the fields of infant mental health, maternal reflective functioning, and attachment-based intervention will have long-lasting impacts. In particular, through the development and dissemination of her intervention program, Mothering from the Inside Out (MIO), she innovated a way of working with mothers with substance use disorders that represented a paradigm shift within the field of addiction. In this introduction to the special issue, written to honor her life and work, we review Nancy's background and briefly describe her academic accomplishments. The special issue contains nine qualitative and quantitative research reports written by Nancy's colleagues and their collaborators. All nine papers pertain to the theme of understanding, measuring, and promoting parents’ capacity for reflective functioning. Four provide findings that advance our understanding of parental reflective functioning. The other five highlight insights from continuing evaluations of MIO, including new adaptations of the model. To introduce the special issue, we provide an overview of the scope of the work done within these projects. Finally, the special issue concludes with two commentaries contributed by Linda Mayes and Arietta Slade, leading scholars within the field who were also Nancy's close colleagues. Both provide insight into Nancy's impact on the field.     

Dissociations in aphasia: A case report

This paper is a case study of an aphasic patient who displays two interesting characteristics, namely, (1) a dissociation between his oral and written disorders (i.e., oral Wernicke vs. written Broca); (2) an agraphia-alexia syndrome in which the picturability of the entities referred to by words plays an important role. Some of the characteristics shown by this patient have been well described concerning reading but never concerning writing. This second aspect is particularly emphasized.