International differences in employee silence motives: Scale validation, prevalence, and relationships with culture characteristics across 33 Countries

Employee silence, the withholding of work-related ideas, questions, or concerns from someone who could effect change, has been proposed to hamper individual and collective learning as well as the detection of errors and unethical behaviors in many areas of the world. To facilitate cross-cultural research, we validated an instrument measuring four employee silence motives (i.e., silence based on fear, resignation, prosocial, and selfish motives) in 21 languages. Across 33 countries (N = 8,222) representing diverse cultural clusters, the instrument shows good psychometric properties (i.e., internal reliabilities, factor structure, measurement invariance). Results further revealed similarities and differences in the prevalence of silence motives between countries, but did not necessarily support cultural stereotypes. To explore the role of culture for silence, we examined relationships of silence motives with the societal practices cultural dimensions from the GLOBE Program. We found relationships between silence motives and power distance, institutional collectivism, and uncertainty avoidance. Overall, the findings suggest that relationships between silence and cultural dimensions are more complex than commonly assumed. We discuss the explanatory power of nations as (cultural) units of analysis, our social scientific approach, the predictive value of cultural dimensions, and opportunities to extend silence research geographically, methodologically, and conceptuallyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Understanding and responding to prescribing patterns of sodium valproate-containing medicines in pregnant women and women of childbearing age in Western Cape, South Africa

Growing evidence of the teratogenic potential of sodium valproate (VPA) has changed prescribing practices across the globe; however, the impact of this research and the consequent dissemination of a Dear Health Care Professional Letter (DHCPL) in December 2015, recommending avoidance of the teratogen VPA in women of childbearing age (WOCBA) and pregnant women in South Africa, is unknown. We explored trends and reasons for VPA use among pregnant women and WOCBA in the public sector in Western Cape Province from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2017. Methods: Using the provincial health information exchange that collates routine electronic health data via unique patient identifiers, we analysed clinical and pharmacy records from 2015 to 2017 to determine prescription patterns of VPA and other antiepileptic drug (AED) and mood-stabilising medicine (MSM) use in WOCBA and pregnant women. Senior clinicians and policy makers were consulted to understand the determinants of VPA use. Results: At least one VPA prescription was dispensed to between 8205 (0.79%) and 9425 (0.94%) WOBCA from a cohort of approximately 1 million WOCBA attending provincial health care facilities per year

Phenological Changes of Blooming Diatoms Promoted by Compound Bottom-Up and Top-Down Controls

Understanding phytoplankton species-specific responses to multiple biotic and abiotic stressors is fundamental to assess phenological and structural shifts at the community level. Here, we present the case of Thalassiosira curviseriata, a winter-blooming diatom in the Bahía Blanca Estuary, Argentina, which displayed a noticeable decrease in the past decade along with conspicuous changes in phenology. We compiled interannual field data to assess compound effects of environmental variations and grazing by the invasive copepod Eurytemora americana. The two species displayed opposite trends over the period examined. The diatom decreased toward the last years, mainly during the winters, and remained relatively constant over the other seasons, while the copepod increased toward the last years, with an occurrence restricted to winter and early spring. A quantitative assessment by structural equation modeling unveiled that the observed long-term trend of T. curviseriata resulted from the synergistic effects of environmental changes driven by water temperature, salinity, and grazing. These results suggest that the shift in the abundance distribution of T. curviseriata toward higher annual ranges of temperature and salinity—as displayed by habitat association curves—constitutes a functional response to avoid seasonal overlapping with its predator in late winters. The observed changes in the timing and abundance of the blooming species resulted in conspicuous shifts in primary production pulses. Our results provide insights on mechanistic processes shaping the phenology and structure of phytoplankton blooms