Balancing Elder Care Responsibilities and Work: The Impact on Emotional Health

The current study investigated the effects of balancing elder care and work on emotional health. Responses from 43 retired caregivers, 211 not retired caregivers, 49 retired non-caregivers, and 224 not retired non-caregivers, who had participated in the national Health and Retirement Study, served as the data base. Results indicate that Caregiver Status (Caregiver vs. Non-caregiver) and Retirement Status (Retired vs. Not Retired) interact, depending on the measure of emotional health. The relationship between the number of depression symptoms reported and Caregiver Status depended on whether the respondent was also retired or employed; a significant interaction was not found when emotional health was measured with one overall item. A significant difference was not found between employed caregivers and employed non-caregivers, in terms of emotional health. Employed caregivers who gave more caregiving hours did report poorer emotional health than employed caregivers who gave fewer hours. Female caregivers reported more depression symptoms than male caregivers. The results suggest that employers may need to develop interventions which may help caregivers who are highly involved with caregiving responsibilities.     

顾客欺凌行为：概念、测量、形成与作用机制

顾客欺凌行为是指在服务交互过程中, 员工感知到来自顾客“低质量”的人际对待, 表现为顾客言语侵犯、性骚扰等。以往研究较深入地探讨了其相关概念、结构、影响因素和影响后果。顾客欺凌行为受个体主观因素和客观因素影响, 通过资源保存、社会交换、情感事件及组织公平理论对个体和组织产生影响。未来研究应更深入探讨顾客欺凌行为的概念、结构和测量问题, 进一步探索其作用机制, 并基于不同的文化情境进行跨文化的研究。     

Association of Depressive Symptomatology and Elder Mistreatment in a U.S. Chinese Population: Findings From a Community-Based Participatory Research Study

Elder mistreatment (EM) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study is to examine the association between depressive symptoms and EM in a U.S. Chinese population. A community-based participatory research approach was implemented to partner with the Chicago Chinatown population. Self-reported EM was assessed using a modified Vulnerability to Abuse Screening Scale instrument. Depressive symptomatology was assessed using the short form Geriatric Depression Scale. Exact logistic regression was used to assess these associations. Of the 78 participants, mean age was 74.8 (SD = 7.8) years and 52.6% were women. EM was reported in 20.5% of participants. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, higher numbers of depressive symptoms were independently associated with increased risk of EM (Exact OR, 1.99, 95% CI [1.23, 3.41]). Interaction terms analyses suggest that higher educational levels might buffer the risk of EM associated with depressive symptoms. Longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these findings in this U.S. Chinese population.     

Intimacy and Complicated Grief among Chinese Elders Having Lost their Spouses: Mediating Role of Meaning Making

This study aims to investigate the mediating role of meaning making in the relationship between intimacy and complicated grief among bereaved elders. A sample of 352 bereaved elders in rural China participated in the study. Both the linear and quadratic effects of meaning making illustrated a model that mediated the effect of intimacy on complicated grief. Essentially, findings revealed that only high levels of meaning making predicted low levels of complicated grief. This study thereby supplements existing research about meaning-making theory.     

老年舒张性心力衰竭诊治的思考

舒张性心力衰竭在老年高血压、冠心病患者中发病率较高,但临床症状、体征不特异,不典型,常容易漏诊。因此,临床工作中应注意发现舒张性心力衰竭相关的症状、体征,结合胸片有肺淤血、超声心动图左室射血分数(left ventriculare-jection fraction,LVEF)正常、血浆脑钠肽(brain natriuretic peptide,BNP)增高等,早期诊断及治疗,提高老年患者的生活质量,减少晚期混合型心力衰竭的发病率。     

Investigating employees’ emotional and cognitive reactions to customer mistreatment: an experimental study

ABSTRACT

With increasing market competitiveness, companies strive to deliver high-quality services. Negative reactions from employees to customer mistreatment erodes the quality of the service provided. This study investigated whether negative emotions and cognitive impairment are mechanisms through which customer mistreatment is related to generalized customer-directed incivility. 157 Italian (Study 1) and 259 Irish (Study 2) research participants completed questionnaires which included an experimental task that manipulated customer misbehaviour levels through scenarios to create three conditions (control, incivility, verbal aggression). Emotional reactions, cognitive impairment and generalized customer-directed incivility intentions as a result of the scenarios were investigated. In both studies, participants in the mistreatment conditions reported more negative emotions, greater cognitive impairment and higher generalized customer-directed incivility intentions than those in the control condition. In Italy (Study 1) negative emotions mediated the relationship between exposure to a customer mistreatment event and generalized customer-directed incivility intentions, but not in Ireland (Study 2), demonstrating the importance of considering contextual conditions in understanding such mediating mechanisms. This study extends research by showing how a single encounter with a misbehaving customer can contribute to the development of incivility intentions towards customers as entities. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.