Values in the bank: Value preferences of bank frontline workers and branch managers

The present study investigated the value preferences of frontline workers and branch managers working in a large bank in Israel. Value preferences of bank workers (n = 98) were compared with those of a matching sample drawn from the Israeli general population (n = 152). In addition, value preferences of bank frontline workers were compared with those of bank branch managers and deputy managers. Finally, the relationships between personal value preferences and the workers’ career motivation were examined. The results indicate that compared to the general population, bank workers have a higher preference for conformity, hedonism, and power values and a lower preference for benevolence, universalism, and self-direction values. Compared to the frontline workers, the bank branch managers and deputy managers reported a higher preference for achievement values and a lower preference for tradition values. Higher career motivation was associated with a higher preference for achievement and power values and a lower preference for benevolence values.     

Race,resource utilisation,and perceived need among urban community development workers from faith-based organisations

Organisations providing social services in communities of high crime and violence must address staff well-being. The current study surveyed 284 urban community development workers from faith-based organisations in five US cities. The study explored the effects of race and ethnicity on service utilisation and perceived need using binomial logistic regression. Race and ethnicity significantly predicted medical service utilisation, indicating that Caucasian participants were five times more likely and African-American participants were 3.8 times more likely than Latino/a participants to utilise medical services. Race and ethnicity did not predict differences in use of psychological or spiritual services, nor of perceived need for services. Furthermore, volunteer staffs were approximately four times more likely than paid staff to report self-addressing their psychological and spiritual needs rather than utilising services, despite a felt need for support. Barriers to resource utilisation and implications for policies and practices of urban community development organisations are discussed.     

The Lived Experiences of Sex Workers in South Africa: An Existential Phenomenological Exploration

We explored the lived experiences of sex workers in South Africa by employing a phenomenological methodology. Five women between the ages of 34 and 48 years who were/are involved in this industry were interviewed between January and March 2008. Through the use of thematic analysis four common themes in their experiences were identified and are elucidated in this article. These themes are: (a) pervasive experiences of abuse and neglect during childhood, (b) entry into sex work, (c) life as a sex worker and (d) trauma and resilience. The lived experiences of the participants were integrated with the literature in order to create a contextualised picture and a deeper understanding of the experience of a sex worker, as well as to assist informing the debate on sex work in South Africa.     

‘Knowing all this just makes it harder’: Psychodynamic Ideas on the Frontline

This paper was given as the fifth Annual Ellen Noonan Counselling Lecture on 12 July 2011 and retains some of the spoken style of the lecture. The theme pursues an aspect of Ellen Noonan’s thinking, in that she always valued equipping students with learning they could take back into the workplace rather than purely training clinicians. The paper addresses both the usefulness and potential difficulties of providing front-line workers with psychodynamic insight. It might appear self-evidently worthwhile to offer staff in the caring and educational professions greater understanding of the roots and meaning of the difficulties faced by their clients and of the dynamics involved in working with them. This paper, while stressing the immense value of such awareness, looks at what can be problematic about it, both for staff and their employing agencies. It also describes ways of addressing such issues, both at an individual and organisational level.     

Defining Islamic modernity through creative writing: a case study of Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong

Indonesian domestic workers (IDWs) have been frequently stereotyped as uneducated and submissive women with little or no bargaining power in transnational labour migration. This article examines why and how literacy practices help foster the activism of IDWs in Hong Kong. In particular, I seek to understand the significance of IDWs’ writing in relation to Islamic modernities. Using the framework of alternative modernities, I argue that the creative process of IDWs’ writing sheds light to their attempts to exercise individual and collective agency. Specifically, the article looks at the role of Forum Lingkar Pena (Pen Circle Forum, FLP) Hong Kong, an IDW writing community, to reveal how its collective literacy practices help affirm Islamic values as part of a modernisation process on IDWs’ own terms.     

Replication of the factor structure of the fear of AIDS schedule (FAIDSS) across samples

Abstract

The stability of the Fear of AIDS Scale (FAIDSS) was studied using three samples (two samples of health workers and one of social work students) on Cattel's s index. Using hyperplane cutoffs between 0.35 and 0.45, on the five factor solution of the FAIDSS, there were significant correlations between factors across samples and with few exceptions each factor correlated significantly with only one factor in its comparison samples. Concurrent validity was demonstrated by comparing scores on the Attitudes toward AIDS scale with the FAIDSS. Data indicated that the FAIDSS structure was stable across samples and is an appropriate instrument for measurement of fear of AIDS in the helping professions.     

‘Who owns my pain?’ An aspect of the complexity of working with looked after children

This paper underlines the difficulties of working with looked after children and their carers. The author discusses a particular approach to respond to the complexity of looked after children's emotional difficulties, and their impact on the network of professionals making decisions about their life in care. As their own parents are no longer in a position to take responsibility for them, their trauma and past abuse make for a lack of clarity amongst this network when establishing the responsible role in loco parentis. In order to provide effective therapeutic work with these children, it is crucial to consider their disturbance as affecting the network around them. Enabling the network to understand and process powerful feelings around the child enhances its self-reflective function, so crucial for thinking about the child's needs and emotional development.     

The effectiveness of intergroup contact at work: Mediators and moderators of hospital workers' prejudice towards immigrants

The present research examines the effectiveness of intergroup contact between 167 Italian hospital workers and foreign patients in reducing prejudice towards immigrants in general. The outcomes of contact at work were analysed controlling for the influence of contact outside the workplace and through mass media, and taking into account the role of empathy, anxiety and group membership salience. Results indicate that the beneficial effects of contact at work were partially mediated by increased empathy and reduced anxiety, experienced both in the work environment and towards immigrants in general. Finally, high levels of group membership salience facilitated the influence of contact on intergroup emotions. These findings show that contact at work can be a powerful means to reduce prejudice, thanks to its capacity to evoke changes in affective responses. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self-efficacy moderates the relationship between stress appraisal and quality of life among rescue workers

Abstract

Rescue workers are frequently exposed to highly stressful situations during their everyday work activity. Stress and coping theory emphasizes the interaction between primary and secondary appraisal in determining coping responses to stressful events and quality of life. According to Social Cognitive Theory, stress reactions depend on self-appraisal of coping capabilities.

The present study investigated whether self-efficacy moderates the relationship between stress appraisal and professional quality of life. A self-administered questionnaire was submitted to a sample of 451 Italian rescue workers (firefighters, paramedics, and medical technicians), including the Professional Quality of Life Scale, which measures three dimensions of emergency workers' quality of working life: compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses indicated that the relationship between stress appraisal and professional quality of life was significant only among rescue workers with low levels of self-efficacy but not among those with higher levels of self-efficacy. These results confirmed the expectations based on Social Cognitive Theory that self-efficacy buffers the impact of perceived stressful encounters on professional quality of life. Results suggest the usefulness of interventions aimed at increasing rescue workers' psychosocial skills.     

Challenges to Doing Sexual Violence Work

Sexual assault victims experience a number of effects as a result of their victimization. Sexual assault crisis workers are assigned the responsibility of trying to minimize the negative consequences of sexual assault. In their efforts to serve sexual assault victims, it is likely that certain problems make it difficult to adequately help victims. This study considers how 43 sexual assault crisis workers (27 directors of sexual assault crisis centers and 16 workers) define the challenges of serving sexual assault victims. Major challenges reported included a lack of awareness about sexual assault, victim blaming, and a lack of resources. Implications are provided.