Measuring Competence in Supervisees and Supervisors : Satisfaction and Related Reactions in Supervision

Supervision is a highly valued component of practitioner training. This chapter discusses the following: factors influencing perceived satisfaction and alliance; and how satisfaction, alliance, and supervision relationships are currently measured; and reviews issues with the concept and its assessment. Given the importance of the supervisory relationship and of the supervisory alliance for the effectiveness of supervision and for the welfare of supervisees, the routine, repeated measurement of both these concepts, together with supervisee satisfaction, also assumes considerable utility. The chapter describes a selection of some commonly used measures: Supervisee Satisfaction Questionnaire (SSQ), Supervisory Relationship Questionnaire (SRQ), Supervisory Relationship Measure (SRM), Supervision Attitude Scale (SAS), Supervisory Working Alliance Inventory (SWAI), Supervisory Styles Inventory (SSI), Role Conflict and Ambiguity Inventory (RCAIC), and Evaluation Process within Supervision Inventory (EPSI).

How can principals enhance teacher job satisfaction and work commitment?

Teachers leave the teaching profession at different stages throughout their careers. When mid-career teachers leave the profession, there is a potential loss of experienced, quality staff. Increasingly principals have the responsibility for recruiting and keeping quality staff, which translates to responsibility for arresting the attrition rate. This paper reports on an ongoing study that investigates how school leadership may affect teacher job satisfaction in order to understand how principals can enhance teacher work commitment. This paper uses the domains of leadership identified in Education Queensland’s Leadership Matters Framework (2008) to compare school leaders’ and teachers’ perceptions about mid-career teachers’ leaving the profession. Five current principals and five ex-teachers participated in semi-structured, qualitative, individual interviews about which leadership practices impact on teacher work commitment. The ideas identified by each cohort were coded through a content analysis. The five domains of leadership (i.e., personal, relational, intellectual, organisational and educational leadership) provided an analytical framework. Both participant groups indicated relational leadership practices as the strongest influence on teacher work commitment. The relational skills, such as valuing staff, being approachable, being consistent with staff interactions, having good interpersonal skills and developing staff strengths, were noted to have specific impacts on teachers’ work commitment. There were significant differences between the groups, with the ex-teachers rating the personal leadership practices as the second most important practice that can influence teacher work commitment. In contrast, the principals felt that the organisational and education leadership practices were of next importance for teacher work commitment. The findings have implications for principal leadership professional learning. Improving relational skills may help school leaders to increase teacher work. Teacher attrition is a serious concern to many education jurisdictions and by understanding reasons for decline in commitment, jurisdictions can redress the negative impact of leadership practices and keep teachers committed and in the profession. However, further research needs to incorporate more participants through a quantitative study to validate connections with the qualitative findings presented in this current study.

Patient satisfaction from two studies of collaborative doctor : pharmacist prescribing in Australia

Background Pharmacist prescribing has been introduced in several countries and is a possible future role for pharmacy in Australia. Objective To assess whether patient satisfaction with the pharmacist as a prescriber, and patient experiences in two settings of collaborative doctor-pharmacist prescribing may be barriers to implementation of pharmacist prescribing. Design Surveys containing closed questions, and Likert scale responses, were completed in both settings to investigate patient satisfaction after each consultation. A further survey investigating attitudes towards pharmacist prescribing, after multiple consultations, was completed in the sexual health clinic. Setting and Participants A surgical pre-admission clinic (PAC) in a tertiary hospital and an outpatient sexual health clinic at a university hospital. Two hundred patients scheduled for elective surgery, and 17 patients diagnosed with HIV infection, respectively, recruited to the pharmacist prescribing arm of two collaborative doctor-pharmacist prescribing studies. Results Consultation satisfaction response rates in PAC and the sexual health clinic were 182/200 (91%) and 29/34 (85%), respectively. In the sexual health clinic, the attitudes towards pharmacist prescribing survey response rate were 14/17 (82%). Consultation satisfaction was high in both studies, most patients (98% and 97%, respectively) agreed they were satisfied with the consultation. In the sexual health clinic, all patients (14/14) agreed that they trusted the pharmacist’s ability to prescribe, care was as good as usual care, and they would recommend seeing a pharmacist prescriber to friends. Discussion and Conclusion Most of the patients had a high satisfaction with pharmacist prescriber consultations, and a positive outlook on the collaborative model of care in the sexual health clinic.

Job satisfaction of preventive medicine workers in northern Vietnam : a multi-method approach

In the health care industry, Job Satisfaction (JS) is linked with work performance, psychological well-being and employee turnover. Although research into JS among health professionals has a long history worldwide, there has been very little analysis in Vietnam. No study has addressed JS of preventive medicine workers in Vietnam, and there is no reliable and valid instrument in Vietnamese language and context for evaluation of JS in this group. This project was conducted to fill these gaps. The findings contribute evidence regarding factors that influence JS in this sector of the health industry that should be applied to personnel management policies and practices in Vietnam.

Religion and life satisfaction: Evidence from Germany

We examined the association between religious involvement and life satisfaction using data drawn from the 2003, 2007, and 2011 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel. Our study provides evidence of an association between attendance at religious services and life satisfaction for respondents residing in West Germany. While social networks partially mediate this relationship for West Germany, there appears to be a remaining direct impact of attendance on life satisfaction. On the contrary, we find no evidence of an association between attendance at religious services and life satisfaction for respondents residing in East Germany.

What determines weight loss behaviour and body weight satisfaction in Australia? Evidence from the HILDA survey

This thesis undertakes an empirical investigation to identify factors that influence the decision to undertake weight loss behaviour using the nationally representative HILDA dataset. Although many factors influenced the decision, the findings suggested that body weight satisfaction was the greatest determinant of weight loss dieting. This thesis therefore conducted a further empirical study to analyse the determinants of body weight satisfaction. A rank-hypothesis was found to better predict variation in body weight satisfaction levels than the absolute value of the individual's Body Mass Index (BMI) or the relative-norm hypothesis, which are commonly reported in the literature.

Not just what they want, but why they want it: Traditional market research to deep customer insights

Purpose This paper explores advantages and disadvantages of both traditional market research and deep customer insight methods in order to lay the platform for revealing how a relationship between these two domains could be optimised during firm-based innovation. Design/methodology/approach The paper reports on an empirical research study conducted with thirteen Australian based firms engaged in a design-led approach to innovation. Firms were facilitated through a design-led approach where the process of gathering deep customer insights was isolated and investigated further in comparison to traditional market research methods. Findings Results show that deep customer insight methods are able to provide fresh, non-obvious ways of understanding customer needs, problems and behaviours that can become the foundation of new business opportunities. Findings concluded that deep customer insights methods provide the critical layer to understand why customers do and don’t engage with businesses. Revealing why was not accessible in traditional market research methods. Research limitations/implications The theoretical outcome of this study is a complementary methods matrix, providing guidance on appropriate implementation of research methods in accordance with a project’s timeline to optimise the complementation of traditional market research methods with design-led customer engagement methods. Practical implications Deep customer insight methods provide fresh, non-obvious ways of understanding customer needs, problems and behaviours that can become the foundation of new business opportunities. It is hoped that those in a position of data collection are encouraged to experiment and use deep customer insight methods to connect with their customers on a meaningful level and translate these insights into value. Originality/value This paper provides original value to a new understanding how design techniques can be applied to compliment and strengthen existing market research strategies. This is crucial in an era where business competition hinges on a subtle and often intimate understanding of customer needs and behaviours.

Improved residential electricity demand management through analysis of the customer perspective

Peak electricity demand requires substantial investment to update transmission, distribution and generation infrastructure. A successful community peak demand reduction project was examined to identify residential consumer motivational and contextual factors involved in their decision to adopt/not adopt interventions. Energy professionals actively worked to achieve community 'peer' membership and by becoming a trusted information source, facilitated voluntary home energy assessment requests from over 80% of the residential community. By combining and tailoring interventions to the specific needs and motivations of individual householders and the community, interventions promoting energy conservation and efficiency can be effective in achieving sustained reduction in peak demand.

What are the contributors to job satisfaction, stress and burnout for haemodialysis nurses?

Aim To review recent studies which identify the factors that contribute to stress, burnout and job satisfaction for nurses who are working in haemodialysis units. Background Regardless of where nurses work, stress, job burnout and dissatisfaction are known to cause high rates of nurse resignations and for many of those to leave the profession entirely. Understanding factors that contribute to job satisfaction, stress and burnout could increase haemodialysis nurse retention and improve health outcomes for people receiving haemodialysis. Evaluation Studies of job stress, burnout and satisfaction for nurses working in haemodialysis units published in English from January 2000 to December 2009 were identified. Specific inclusion criteria were developed resulting in eleven articles selected for this review. Key issues Specifically for haemodialysis nurses’ job stress and burnout was found to originate from two factors related to either patient care or organisations. Patient care factors included unrealistic patient expectations, progressive decline of a patient’s health, and violence and verbal abuse from patients. Organisational factors included shortage of time to complete tasks, lack of resources and unsupportive work environments. Increased job satisfaction for haemodialysis nurses was due to having job security, freedom to use one’s judgement and the quality of nurse/physician interactions. Conclusion Job stress and burnout are problematic for haemodialysis nurses. Instituting strategies which prevent and/or ameliorate stress or burnout could result in improved job satisfaction and also the retention of highly skilled haemodialysis nurses.

Solo holiday travellers: Motivators and drivers of satisfaction and dissatisfaction

A growing number of people are travelling alone for holidays, yet limited research addresses this topic. This paper explores the main motivators and drivers of satisfaction and dissatisfaction for solo holiday travellers using a critical incident technique (CIT) to collect and analyse data. The findings show that drivers of satisfaction for solo holiday travellers are more related to personal feelings of freedom, relaxation and discovery (personal factors), and interaction with other people (human interaction factors), than with holiday destination factors. Safety (a destination factor) and unfriendly service providers (a human interaction factor) are the main sources of dissatisfaction for solo holiday travellers.

Examining the role of wine brand love on brand loyalty: A multi-country comparison

This study develops and tests a model through a multi-country study that considers consumer wine knowledge and wine experience, wine brand trust and wine brand satisfaction as antecedents of wine brand love, and wine brand loyalty as a consequence of wine brand love. Data were collected in five wine-producing countries (Australia, Chile, France, Mexico and Portugal) with a final sample of 3462 completed surveys. Hypotheses were tested with structural equation modeling and the findings confirm the importance of brand love as both a mediator and direct influence on brand loyalty for wine consumers. Furthermore, brand satisfaction was positively and significantly related to brand love. In addition, wine experience, rather than wine knowledge, positively influenced brand trust and satisfaction. Finally, results also identify differences between countries thereby providing insights into how companies should focus their marketing strategies internationally.

Women's perceptions of communication in pregnancy and childbirth: Influences on participation and satisfaction with care

In this study, 3531 Queensland women, who had recently given birth, completed a questionnaire that included questions about their participation in decision making during pregnancy, their ratings of client centred care and perceived quality of care. These data tested a version of Street’s (2001) linguistic model of patient participation in care (LMOPPC), adapted to the maternity context. We investigated how age and education influenced women’s perceptions of their participation and quality of care. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that women’s perceived ability to make decisions, and the extent of client-centred communication with maternity care providers were the most influential predictors of participation and perceived quality of care. Participation in care predicted perceived quality of care, but the influence of client-centred communication by a care provider and a woman’s confidence in decision making were stronger predictors of perceived quality of care. Age and education level were not important predictors. These findings extend and support the use of LMOPPC in the maternity context.

Job satisfaction, stress and burnout in haemodialysis nurses

Haemodialysis nurses provide health care for people with end stage kidney disease leading to a unique, intense and complex interaction between nurses and patients. This study involved the development of a model which explains the relationships between the work environment, job satisfaction, stress and burnout of haemodialysis nurses in Australia and New Zealand. Results from this study identified that haemodialysis nurses, while being satisfied by their jobs, were also experiencing high levels of burnout. This study's novel contribution could lead to improving the retention of the nursing workforce which is crucial due to the growing global burden of chronic disease.

Customer-driven innovation: Digital channels and community

This study investigates the role of digital channels in community-led businesses by exploring two case study companies, Uber and Airbnb. At present, these community-led businesses are disrupting traditional industries by connecting with customers via digital channels and facilitating transactions between two parties. A deductive structured qualitative content analysis approach utilising a predetermined categorization matrix was implemented to decipher the digital channels used by both companies. The results discovered that both company’s digital channels push the customer to their core channel, allowing, customers to create their own physical, largely self-governed communities. However, little research exists which explores and analyses the role of digital channels in forming community-led businesses. Therefore, this paper aims to instigate future research and discussion in this emerging area by concluding with future research agendas.