Attitudes Towards Work and Family Roles and Their Implications for Career Growth of Women: A Report from India

This paper explored attitudes towards work and family roles of professional men and women in India. Ninety-two husband–wife pairs from salaried, upper middle class, dual-career families in India participated in the study. Propositions based on adult development theories of men and women, regarding reward value derived from and commitment made to occupational, parental, marital, and homemaker roles over the life cycle, were tested. Results indicated that there was no change with age, in attitudes towards occupational and homemaker roles. Instead, gender-based differences in attitudes towards these roles were observed. Attitudes towards the marital and parental role varied across the life cycle, although not in keeping with propositions based on the adult development theories of men and women. There was no reversal in attitudes towards work and family roles of men and women after midlife. Rather, some reversal in attitudes appeared to occur between the marital and parental role, over the life span of both men and women. Results are reviewed within the Indian cultural context and their implications for the career development of women are discussed.     

Professional women in organizations: New paradigms for research and action

Writings about professional women in organizations often adopt an advocacy approach and look at problems of women in isolation from the rest of the organization. This article suggests a systems perspective for viewing these problems as concerns of an organizational subsystem that can have important ramifications for the other subsystems and for the organization as a whole. Reviewing research on some major issues encountered by professional women at the workplace, this article demonstrates the usefulness of complementary research to integrate these issues into an organizational framework.     

Assistive/rehabilitation technology, disability, and service delivery models

The United Nation's Millennium Development Goals do not explicitly articulate a focus on disability; similar failures in the past resulted in research, policy, and practice that are not generalizable and did not meet the needs of persons with disabilities since they were developed for an "average" population. Academics and professionals in health and other disciplines should have a knowledge base in evidence-based practices that improve well-being and participation of people with disabilities through effective service delivery of assistive technology. Grounded by a theoretical framework that incorporates a multivariate perspective of disability that is acknowledged in the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, we present a review of models of assistive technology service delivery and call for future syntheses of the fragmented evidence base that would permit a comparative effectiveness approach to evaluation.     

Prospective Pilot Study of the Mastering Each New Direction Psychosocial Family Systems Program for Pediatric Chronic Illness

Psychosocial interventions for pediatric chronic illness (CI) have been shown to support health management. Interventions that include a family systems approach offer potentially stronger and more sustainable improvements. This study explores the biopsychosocial benefits of a novel family systems psychosocial intervention (MEND: Mastering Each New Direction). Forty‐five families participated in a 21‐session intensive outpatient family systems‐based program for pediatric CI. Within this single arm design, families were measured on five domains of Health‐Related Quality of Life (HRQL) self‐report measures; Stress, Cognitive Functioning, Mental Health, Child HRQL, Family Functioning. Both survey and biological measures (stress: catecholamine) were used in the study. Results from multivariate general linear models showed positive pre‐, post‐, and 3‐month posteffects in all five domains. The program effects ranged from small to moderate (η² = .07–.64). The largest program effects were seen in the domains of cognitive functioning (η² = .64) and stress (η² = .27). Also, between disease groups, differences are noted and future implications for research and clinical practice are discussed. Conclusions suggest that the MEND program may be useful in helping families manage pediatric chronic illnesses. Study results also add to the growing body of literature suggesting that psychosocial interventions for pediatric chronic illness benefit from a family systems level of intervention.     

Tomeito or Tomahto: Exploring consumer's accent and their engagement with artificially intelligent interactive voice assistants

Artificially intelligent interactive voice assistants (AIIVAs) are developed to understand language, but there is limited insight into their ability to understand accents. While there have been substantial advancements in understanding multiple languages by AIIVAs, having an understanding of variety of accents is an emerging concern. To address these concerns, we contextualised our study in India, one of the world's most populated and diverse countries with varying accents and dialects. Study 1 collected qualitative data through semi structured interviews with participants, data was subsequently thematically analysed, and a typology was developed with respect to the context of use and consumers' emotional and rational reactions towards AIIVAs when interacting with accents. For Study 2, we implemented the quantitative research method. This was done to reiterate the conceptual model formulated from the qualitative research findings. Findings suggest that positive emotional action has emerged as the most significant factor, followed by rational action and negative emotional action. This study contributes significantly to the theoretical understanding of future consumer behaviour and human-computer interaction trends. It provides practical implications for managers, tech developers, and other companies working and using speech-to-text automatic speech recognition to know that while they train their algorithms with languages, they should be mindful of the diverse accents of their consumers.     

Development of norms for executive functions in typically-developing Indian urban preschool children and its association with nutritional status

Executive functions (EFs) are essential and important for achieving success in children’s everyday lives and play a fundamental role in children’s cognitive, academic, social, emotional and behavioral functioning. A cross-sectional study was carried out to develop age- and sex-specific norms for EFs using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function – Preschool Version (BRIEF-P) among 2- to 5-year-olds from urban Bangalore, India. In addition, the association between EFs and anthropometric measures, a marker of nutritional status, is also examined. Primary caregivers of 412 children, equally distributed by age and sex, participated. Raw scores for each domain and indices were converted to standard t-scores and percentiles were computed. A t-score at or above 63 corresponding to the 90th percentile was considered as the cutoff for executive dysfunction in this sample. The prevalence of executive dysfunction is 10% based on the Global Executive Composite score of the BRIEF-P. The cutoff score for identifying executive dysfunction using existing United States (US) norms is higher compared to the cutoff score obtained in the current study. Therefore, using US norms for Indian children could result in the prevalence of executive dysfunction been underestimated. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that stunted and underweight children have significantly elevated EF scores after adjusting for age, sex and socioeconomic status (SES; p < .01). A greater understanding of EFs in preschool children is important for the early identification of executive dysfunction and implementing interventions to improve their future prospects. This study also shows that undernourished children are more likely to have executive dysfunction.     

Assistive/rehabilitation technology,disability, and service delivery models

The United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals do not explicitly articulate a focus on disability; similar failures in the past resulted in research, policy, and practice that are not generalizable and did not meet the needs of persons with disabilities since they were developed for an “average” population. Academics and professionals in health and other disciplines should have a knowledge base in evidence-based practices that improve well-being and participation of people with disabilities through effective service delivery of assistive technology. Grounded by a theoretical framework that incorporates a multivariate perspective of disability that is acknowledged in the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, we present a review of models of assistive technology service delivery and call for future syntheses of the fragmented evidence base that would permit a comparative effectiveness approach to evaluation.     

Objectified Body Consciousness in a Developing Country: A Comparison of Mothers and Daughters in the US and Nepal

Self-objectification (Fredrickson and Roberts 1997) has been related to negative psychological consequences in U.S. women. However, little cross-cultural research has been done. We compared convenience samples of American and Nepali women on two measures of self-objectification. Pairs of Nepali mothers and daughters (N?=?23) and pairs of U.S. mothers and daughters (N?=?24) completed a quantitative and a qualitative measure of self-objectification. Cultural and generational differences were found. Nepali women engaged in less self-surveillance than U.S. women. Older women engaged in less self-surveillance than younger women. Women in both cultures had high beliefs in their ability to control the body. An additional dimension of body consciousness, termed Functionality, was particularly important to younger Nepali women.     

The effects of brief prayer on the experience of forgiveness: An American and Indian comparison

The present study offers a cross‐cultural examination of the effect of prayer on forgiveness. American (n = 51) and Indian (n = 100) participants either prayed for their romantic partner (prayer condition) or described their romantic partner's physical attributes (control condition). Prayers were self‐guided and lasted 3 minutes. Pre‐test and post‐test measures of retaliation were completed. Results showed that participants in the prayer group showed statistically significant decreases in retaliation motives from pre‐test to post‐test and the magnitude of this change was not different across cultures. Control groups in both cultures showed no change. Because of the religious diversity present in the Indian sample, the robustness of the effect of prayer on forgiveness was tested across Christian, Hindu and Muslim Indians. Religious affiliation did not moderate the effect of prayer on forgiveness in this sample. Results suggest that a brief prayer is capable of producing real change in forgiveness and this change is consistent across American and Indian cultures and across three different religious groups in India. Brief prayer for others that enhances forgiveness may be useful for individuals in close relationships, in certain counselling settings and for people in many different walks of life.