Error recovery in a hospital pharmacy

A field study was performed in a hospital pharmacy aimed at identifying positive and negative influences on the process of detection of and further recovery from initial errors or other failures, thus avoiding negative consequences. Confidential reports and follow-up interviews provided data on 31 near-miss incidents involving such recovery processes. Analysis revealed that organizational culture with regard to following procedures needed reinforcement, that some procedures could be improved, that building in extra checks was worthwhile and that supporting unplanned recovery was essential for problems not covered by procedures. Guidance is given on how performance in recovery could be measured. A case is made for supporting recovery as an addition to prevention-based safety methods.

Relationship between work performance and personality traits in Hong Kong organizational settings

Four hundred and thirty-seven employees from four Hong Kong organizations completed the Traditional Chinese versions of the Fifteen Factor Personality Questionnaire Plus (15FQ+) and the Cross-Cultural Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI-2) (indigenous scales) and provided objective and memory-based recent performance appraisal scores. A number of significant bivariate correlations were found between personality and performance scores. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that a number of the scales from the 15FQ+ contributed to significantly predicting four of the performance competency dimensions, but that the CPAI-2 indigenous scales contributed no incremental validity in performance prediction over and above the 15FQ+. Results are discussed in the light of previous research and a call made for continued research to further develop and increase the reliability of the Chinese instruments used in the study and to enable generalization of the findings with confidence.

The association between number of homework assignments completed during a lifestyle physical activity intervention and scores on transtheoretical measures

An assumption of theory-based physical activity interventions is that active participation positively affects the theoretical constructs upon which the intervention is based. This assumption is rarely tested. This study assessed whether participation, defined as completion of homework, in a lifestyle physical activity intervention was associated with changes over 6 months in constructs the homework addressed: the behavioral and cognitive processes of change, self-efficacy, and decisional balance (the pros and cons). Participants were 244 sedentary adults aged 25 to 75 years. They completed an average of 12 of 20 homework assignments. Those completing at least two-thirds of the homework (n = 113) had greater changes in the theoretical constructs from pretest to posttest than those completing less (n = 90). Post-hoc analyses suggest that completing theory-based homework may impact the processes of change and self-efficacy in lifestyle physical activity interventions and, therefore, are warranted in future interventions.

The self-reported impact of legal and non-legal sanctions on a group of recidivist drink drivers

Concern remains regarding the efficacy of legal sanctions to reduce drink driving behaviours among repeat offenders. The present study examined the impact of traditional legal sanctions (e.g., fines and licence disqualification periods), nonlegal sanctions, alcohol consumption and the frequency of recent offending behaviour(s) on intentions to re-offend for a group of recidivist drink drivers (N=166). The analysis indicated that participants perceived legal sanctions to be severe, but not entirely certain nor swift. In addition, self-reported recent drink driving behaviours and alcohol consumption levels were identified as predictors of future intentions to drink and drive. The findings of the study confirm the popular assumption that some repeat offenders are impervious to the threat and application of legal sanctions and suggests that additional interventions such as alcohol treatment programs are required if the drinking and driving sequence is to be broken for this population. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using "war stories" to train for adaptive performance: Is it better to learn from error or success?

The study examines whether error exposure training can enhance adaptive performance. Fifty-nine experienced fire-fighters undergoing training for incident command participated in the study. War stories were developed based on real events to illustrate successful and unsuccessful incident command decisions. Two training methodologies were compared and evaluated. One group was trained using case studies that depicted incidents containing errors of management with severe consequences in fire-fighting outcomes (error-story training) while a second group was exposed to the same set of case studies except that the case studies depicted the incidents being managed without errors and their consequences (errorless-story training). The results provide some support for the hypothesis that it is better to learn from other people's errors than from their successes. Implications for training are discussed.

Virtual reality exposure therapy: 150-degree screen to desktop PC

Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) developed using immersive or semi-immersive virtual environments present a usability problem for practitioners. To meet practitioner requirements for lower cost and portability VRET programs must often be ported onto desktop environments such as the personal computer (PC). However, success of VRET has been shown to be linked to presence, and the environment's ability to evoke the same reactions and emotions as a real experience. It is generally accepted that high-end virtual environments ( VEs) are more immersive than desktop PCs, but level of immersion does not always predict level of presence. This paper reports on the impact on presence of porting a therapeutic VR application for Schizophrenia from the initial research environment of a semi-immersive curved screen to PC. Presence in these two environments is measured both introspectively and across a number of causal factors thought to underlie the experience of presence. Results show that the VR exposure program successfully made users feel they were present in both platforms. While the desktop PC achieved higher scores on presence across causal factors participants reported they felt more present in the curved screen environment. While comparison of the two groups was statistically significant for the PQ but not for the IPQ, subjective reports of experiences in the environments should be considered in future research as the success of VRET relies heavily on the emotional response of patients to the therapeutic program.

Workplace familism and psychological contract breach in the Philippines

The present study addresses the call for theory-based investigations on workplace familism. It contributes to the literature by proposing and testing the moderating role of workplace familism between psychological contract breach and civic virtue behaviour. We surveyed 267 full-time employees and found main effects of both types of workplace familism (i.e. workplace organisational and workplace supervisor familism) and breach of relational obligations on civic virtue behaviour. Workplace supervisor familism also moderated the relationship between breach and civic virtue behaviour, with the negative relationship between breach and civic virtue behaviour stronger when workplace supervisor familism was high. This suggests that employees with a high level of workplace supervisor familism may feel a sense of betrayal and, therefore, respond more negatively to contract breach. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.

Perceptions of organizational change: A stress and coping perspective

Few organizational change studies identify the aspects of change that are salient to individuals and that influence well-being. The authors identified three distinct change characteristics: the frequency, impact and planning of change. R. S. Lazarus and S. Folkman's (1984) cognitive phenomenological model of stress and coping was used to propose ways that these change characteristics influence individuals' appraisal of the uncertainty associated with change, and, ultimately, job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Results of a repeated cross-sectional study that collected individuals' perceptions of change one month prior to employee attitudes in consecutive years indicated that while the three change perceptions were moderately to strongly intercorrelated, the change perceptions displayed differential relationships with outcomes. Discussion focuses on the importance of systematically considering individuals' subjective experience of change.

Refining individualized consideration: Distinguishing developmental leadership and supportive leadership

This study explores the theoretical and empirical distinction between developmental leadership and supportive leadership, which are currently encompassed in a single sub dimension of transformational leadership, individualized consideration. Items were selected to assess these constructs, and hypotheses regarding the differential effects of developmental and supportive leadership were proposed. Confirmatory factor analyses provided support for the proposed distinction between developmental and supportive leadership, although these leadership factors were very strongly associated. Structural equation modelling and multi-level modelling results indicated that both developmental leadership and supportive leadership displayed unique relationships with theoretically selected outcome measures. Developmental leadership displayed significantly stronger relationships with job satisfaction, career certainty, affective commitment to the organization and role breadth self-efficacy than did supportive leadership. Results provide initial evidence in support of the discriminant validity of these two types of leadership. Discussion focuses on the need to further examine the construct of developmental leadership.

An examination of the antecedents of readiness for fine-tuning and corporate transformation changes

This study examined employee readiness for fine-tuning changes and for corporate transformation changes. It was proposed that employees would report different degrees of readiness for these two types of change and that different variables would be associated with readiness for the two types of change. Results of regression analyses indicated that trust in peers and logistics and system support displayed strong positive relationships with readiness for fine-tuning changes, while trust in senior leaders and self-efficacy displayed strong positive relationships with readiness for corporate transformation changes. The implications of this study focus on the appropriateness of traditional change management strategies in light of findings that multiple change readiness attitudes exist within an organization.

Children's attentional skills and road behavior

Switching attention and concentration, 2 skills expected to be used by skillful pedestrians, were studied. A sample of 160 children (aged 4 years 3 months-10 years) played a computer game involving attention switching. To examine concentration, a subset of the children was distracted with a cartoon video while they attempted a difficult task that required matching familiar figures. The same subset was also observed crossing roads. Older children switched faster and were less distracted. Children who were better at switching were more likely to show awareness of traffic when about to cross a road. Children who maintained concentration when challenged by a distracting event crossed the road in a less reckless manner. Parents and educators designing safety programs should take into account the development of these skills.

Within-Person Link between Depressed Affect and Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity in Adolescence : An Intensive Longitudinal Approach

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank Danijela Bacic, Hannah J€ockel, Lea K€ohler, Katrin Molsen, Marie Landenberger, and Annika Plambeck for their assistance with participant recruitment and data collection, Dale Esliger and Lauren Sherar for processing the accelerometry data, and Matthew Riccio for his helpful comments on the manuscript.

Child-to-parent violence: the role of exposure to violence and its relationship to social-cognitive processing

Research suggests that child-to-parent violence (CPV) is related to a previous history of violence within the family setting. The current study was aimed to explore the exposure to violence in different settings (school, community, home, and TV) and its relationship to some variables of the social-cognitive processing (hostile social perception, impulsivity, ability to anticipate the consequences of social behaviors and to select the appropriate means to achieve the goals of social behaviors) in a group of juveniles who assaulted their parents. It is also examined how they differ from other young offenders and non-offender adolescents. The sample included 90 adolescents from Jaén (Spain). Thirty of them were juveniles who had been reported by their parents for being violent towards them and 30 were juveniles who had committed other types of offences. The third group was made up of 30 adolescents without any criminal charge. Adolescents answered measures of exposure to violence, perception of criticism/rejection from parents, hostile social perception, and social problem- solving skills. Results revealed that juveniles who abused their parents reported higher levels of exposure to violence at home when comparing to the other groups. In addition, exposure to violence at home was significantly correlated to the hostile social perception of adolescents in CPV cases. Implications for prevention and treatment are discussed