An epidemiologic evaluation of a worksite based intervention

The healthcare industry spends billions on worker injury and employee turnover. Hospitals and healthcare settings have one of the highest rates of lost days due to injuries. The occupational hazards for healthcare workers can be classified into biological, chemical, ergonomic, physical, organizational, and psychosocial. Therefore, interventions addressing a range of occupational health risks are needed to prevent injuries and reduce turnover and reduce costs. ^ The Sacred Vocation Program (SVP) seeks to change the content of work, i.e., the meaningfulness of work, to improve work environments. The SVP intervenes at both the individual and organizational level. First the SVP attempts to connect healthcare workers with meaning from their work through a series of 5 self-discovery group sessions. In a sixth session the graduates take an oath recommitting them to do their work as a vocation. Once motivated to connect with meaning in their work, a representative employee group meets in a second set of five meetings. This representative group suggests organizational changes to create a culture that supports employees in their calling. The employees present their plan in the twelfth session to management beginning a new phase in the existing dialogue between employees and management. ^ The SVP was implemented in a large Dallas hospital (almost 1000 licensed beds). The Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) Pastoral Care department invited front-line caregivers (primarily Patient Care Assistants, PCAs, or Patient Care Technicians, PCTs) to participate in the SVP. Participants completed SVP questionnaires at the beginning and following SVP implementation. Following implementation, employer records were collected on injury, absence and turnover to further evaluate the program's effectiveness on metrics that are meaningful to managers in assessing organizational performance. This provided an opportunity to perform an epidemiological evaluation of the intervention using the two sources of information: employee self-reports and employer administrative data. ^ The ability to evaluate the effectiveness of the SVP on program outcomes could be limited by the strength of the measures used. An ordinal CFA performed on baseline SVP questionnaire measurements examined the construct validity and reliability of the SVP scales. Scales whose item-factor structure was confirmed in ordinal CFA were evaluated for their psychometric properties (i.e., reliability, mean, ceiling and floor effects). CFA supported the construct validity of six of the proposed scales: blocks to spirituality, meaning at work, work satisfaction, affective commitment, collaborative communication, and MHI-5. Five of the six scales confirmed had acceptable measures of reliability (all but MHI-5 had α>0.7). All six scales had a high percentage (>30%) of the scores at the ceiling. These findings supported the use of these items in the evaluation of change although strong ceiling effects may hinder discerning change. ^ Next, the confirmed SVP scales were used to evaluate whether the intervention improved program constructs. To evaluate the SVP a one group pretest-posttest design compared participants’ self-reports before and after the intervention. It was hypothesized that measurements of reduced blocks to spirituality (α = 0.76), meaning at work (α = 0.86), collaborative communication (α = 0.67) and SVP job tasks (α = 0.97) would improve following SVP implementation. The SVP job tasks scale was included even though it was not included in the ordinal CFA analysis due to a limited sample and high inter-item correlation. Changes in scaled measurements were assessed using multilevel linear regression methods. All post-intervention measurements increased (increases <0.28 points) but only reduced blocks to spirituality was statistically significant (0.22 points on a scale from 1 to 7, p < 0.05) after adjustment for covariates. Intensity of the intervention (stratifying on high participation units) strengthened effects; but were not statistically significant. The findings provide preliminary support for the hypothesis that meaning in work can be improved and, importantly, lend greater credence to any observed improvements in the outcomes. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)^

La Asamblea del año XIII y la dimensión extraordinaria del orden jurídico tradicional : Reflexiones en torno al juramento e instrucciones del cabildo de Córdoba

Considerando los cambios historiográficos relacionados con los primeros constitucionalismos hispanoamericanos, nos proponemos analizar algunos aspectos de la tradición jurídica todavía dominante en el momento de la Asamblea de 1813 que pueden contribuir a una mejor comprensión de su significado como primer ensayo constituyente en el Río de la Plata. Partiendo de la elucidación del calificativo "extraordinario" -como clave del lenguaje normativo precontemporáneo-, analizamos algunos tópicos clásicos como el problema de la representación, las instrucciones a los diputados y el juramento exigido para el reconocimiento de la Asamblea. Aunque usamos testimonios principalmente tomados de Córdoba, aspiramos a que algunas reflexiones puedan proyectarse más allá de ese ocasional punto de observación

La Asamblea del año XIII y la dimensión extraordinaria del orden jurídico tradicional : Reflexiones en torno al juramento e instrucciones del cabildo de Córdoba

Considerando los cambios historiográficos relacionados con los primeros constitucionalismos hispanoamericanos, nos proponemos analizar algunos aspectos de la tradición jurídica todavía dominante en el momento de la Asamblea de 1813 que pueden contribuir a una mejor comprensión de su significado como primer ensayo constituyente en el Río de la Plata. Partiendo de la elucidación del calificativo "extraordinario" -como clave del lenguaje normativo precontemporáneo-, analizamos algunos tópicos clásicos como el problema de la representación, las instrucciones a los diputados y el juramento exigido para el reconocimiento de la Asamblea. Aunque usamos testimonios principalmente tomados de Córdoba, aspiramos a que algunas reflexiones puedan proyectarse más allá de ese ocasional punto de observación

La Asamblea del año XIII y la dimensión extraordinaria del orden jurídico tradicional : Reflexiones en torno al juramento e instrucciones del cabildo de Córdoba

Considerando los cambios historiográficos relacionados con los primeros constitucionalismos hispanoamericanos, nos proponemos analizar algunos aspectos de la tradición jurídica todavía dominante en el momento de la Asamblea de 1813 que pueden contribuir a una mejor comprensión de su significado como primer ensayo constituyente en el Río de la Plata. Partiendo de la elucidación del calificativo "extraordinario" -como clave del lenguaje normativo precontemporáneo-, analizamos algunos tópicos clásicos como el problema de la representación, las instrucciones a los diputados y el juramento exigido para el reconocimiento de la Asamblea. Aunque usamos testimonios principalmente tomados de Córdoba, aspiramos a que algunas reflexiones puedan proyectarse más allá de ese ocasional punto de observación

Rules and orders relating to a Professor of the Mathematicks, of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, in Harvard College, 18 January 1726

This folder contains a single document describing the "rules and orders" of the Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. The document begins by defining the subjects to be taught by the Hollis Professor including natural and experimental philosophy, elements of geometry, and the principles of astronomy and geography. It then outlines the number of public and private lectures to be given to students, how much extra time the professor should spend with students reviewing any difficulties they may encounter understanding class subject matter discussed, and stipulates that the professor's duties shall be restricted solely to his teaching activities and not involve him in any religious activities at the College or oblige him to teach any additional studies other than those specified for the Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. Furthermore, the rules establish the professor's salary at £80 per year and allow the professor to receive from students, except those students studying theology under the Hollis Professor of Divinity, an additional fee as determined by the Corporation and Board of Overseers, to supplement his income. Moreover, the rules assert that all professorship candidates selected by the Harvard Corporation must be approved by Thomas Hollis during his lifetime or by his executor after his death. Finally, the rules state that the Hollis professor take an oath to the civil government and declare himself a member of the Protestant reformed religion. This document is signed by Thomas Hollis and four witnesses, John Hollis, Joshua Hollis, Richard Solly, and John Williams.

Warrant, 1752 April 7

Photostat of a royal warrant for Andrew Bordman III's appointment as "Justice of our Inferior Court of Common Pleas" in Middlesex county, witnessed by Spencer Phips, Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor. A note added May 19, 1752 confirms Bordman's test of declaration and oath of office before Francis Foxcroft and Samuel Danforth.

A synopsis of naturall philosophy according to the method of the ancients, but improved & augmented with the notions of later philosophers : manuscript, 1677-1679

Possibly autograph, dated at end of volume: Finitu[m] mart: 14, 1678/9. Imperfect copy with title page missing; supplied from a MS copy, dated 29 March 1680, now in the Bodleian Library.

German stories : selected from the works of Hoffmann, De la Motte Fouqué, Pichler, Kruse and others /

Translated from the German.

A letter to Lord Erskine : containing a full and complete exposé of the foul, detestable, though impotent, conspiracy, formed against our present gracious queen, Caroline Amelia Elizabeth.

Signed: James Mills.

Archbishop Usher's Answer to a Jesuit : with other tracts on popery.

Includes index.

Prophetical Extracts.

[No. III] Prophetical extracts. Containing a very scarce prophetic piece, intitled [sic], A cry from the desart [sic], or, testimonials of the miraculous things lately come to pass in the Cevennes, or Southern parts of France. Verified upon oath, and by other proofs. [by Maximilian Misson] (1794).--No. IV. Prophetical extracts. Relative to the revolution in France, and the decline of the papal power in the world: selected from Fleming, Usher, Jerieu, Goodwin, Gill, Love, Daut, Brown, Knox, Willison, More, Newton, Lacey, Owen, Marion, Cavalier, and many more (1794).--No. V. Prophetical extracts. Relative to the revolution in France...The lives, prophecies, visions, and revelations, of Christopher Kotterus, and Christina Poniatonia, two eminent prophets, in Germany, containing predictions concerning the Pope, the King of France, and the Roman Empire ; with the sudden destruction of the papal power, the miraculous conversion of the Turks, the calling in of the Jews, and the uniting all religions into one universal visible church. Many of which prophecies being desired by the then King of Bohemia, were by the learned Comenius presented to him [by Johann Amos Comenius] (1794).

Miscellaneous tracts:

Dedication dated Dublin, July 15, 1781.