The ‘digital glimpse’ as imagining home

This paper proposes the concept of the ‘digital glimpse’, which develops the existing framing of imaginative travel. Here it articulates the experiences of mobile workers digitally connecting into family life and everyday rituals when physically absent with work. The recent embedding of digital communication technologies into personal relationships and family life is reconfiguring how absence is experienced and practiced by workers on the move, and through this, new digital paradigms for life on-the-move are emerging. This paper explores how such social relationships are maintained at-a-distance through digital technology – using evidence from qualitative interviews with mobile workers and their families. Digital technology now enables expressive forms of ‘virtual travel’, including video calling, picture sharing, and instant messaging. This has implications for the ways in which families can manage the social and relational pressures of being apart. Experiences of imaginative travel created through novel media can enrich the experience and give a greater sense of connection for both those who are at home and those who are away. While technology is limited in its ability to replicate a sense of co-presence, ‘digital glimpses’ are an emergent set of sociotechnical practices that can reduce the negative impact of absence on family relationships

Practice area and work demands in nurses' aides: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Knowledge of how work demands vary between different practice areas could give us a better understanding of the factors that influence the working conditions in the health services, and could help identify specific work-related challenges and problems in the different practice areas. In turn, this may help politicians, and healthcare administrators and managers to develop healthy work units. The aim of this study was to find out how nurses' aides' perception of demands and control at work vary with the practice area in which the aides are working. METHODS: In 1999, 12 000 nurses' aides were drawn randomly from the member list of the Norwegian Union of Health – and Social Workers, and were mailed a questionnaire. 7478 (62.3 %) filled in the questionnaire. The sample of the present study comprised the 6485 nurses' aides who were not on leave. Respondents working in one practice area were compared with respondents not working in this area (all together). Because of multiple comparisons, 0.01 was chosen as statistical significance level. RESULTS: Total quantitative work demands were highest in somatic hospital departments, nursing homes, and community nurse units. Physical demands were highest in somatic hospital departments and nursing homes. Level of positive challenges was highest in hospital departments and community nurses units, and lowest in nursing homes and homes or apartment units for the aged. Exposure to role conflicts was most frequent in nursing homes, homes or apartment units for the aged, and community nurse units. Exposure to threats and violence was most frequent in psychiatric departments, nursing homes, and institutions for mentally handicapped. Control of work pace was highest in psychiatric departments and institutions for mentally handicapped, and was lowest in somatic hospital departments and nursing homes. Participation in decisions at work was highest in psychiatric departments and community nurse units, and was lowest in somatic hospital departments and nursing homes. CONCLUSION: The demands and control experienced by Norwegian nurses' aides at work vary strongly with the practice area. Preventive workplace interventions should be tailored each area

Shot at Dawn: Late Photography and the Anti-War Memorial

The military executions of World War One are the subject of Chloe Dewe Mathews’s 2014 photographic series Shot at Dawn. These events—in which hundreds of soldiers were court-martialled and executed for cowardice and desertion—remain controversial, without consensus or established collective narrative. This article charts historic negotiations with the subject but also considers more recent efforts to integrate these proceedings within memorial practice. World War One remembrance activities, whilst diverse, have often emphasised sacrifice, heroism and community. Correspondingly, participation and engagement were core values in the major British World War One centenary arts project, titled 14-18 NOW, from which Shot at Dawn was commissioned. Chloe Dewe Mathews’s contribution to the programme, however, presents a photographic aesthetic of resistance to the principles of inclusivity and remembrance elsewhere embraced by the project. As such, the work challenges the consensual politics of commemoration and—through the practices of late photography, land art and performance pilgrimage— substitutes trauma and forgetfulness for reconciliation and memory

Stress and psychological health: testing the mediating role of cognitive appraisal

This study tested the mediating role of primary (e.g., threat and challenge perceptions) and secondary (e.g., coping potential and control perception) cognitive appraisal in the relationship between occupational stress and psychological health. This mediation was tested using a cross-sectional study based on self-reported measures. The total sample consisted of 2,302 nurses, 1,895 females (82.3%) and 407 males (17.7%), who completed an evaluation protocol with measures of occupational stress, cognitive appraisal, and psychological health. To test the mediating role of cognitive appraisal in the relationship between cognitive appraisal and psychological health, we used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results confirmed that primary and secondary cognitive appraisals partially mediated the relationship between occupational stress and psychological health; however, the direct effects of stress on psychological health cannot be ignored. The findings indicated that cognitive appraisal is an important underlying mechanism in explaining adaptation at work.This study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of MInho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653)

Ambulatory assessment of psychophysiological stress among police officers: A proof-of-concept study.

Occupational stress has been widely recognized as a global challenge and has received increased attention by the academic community. Ambulatory Assessment methodologies, combining psychophysiological measures of stress, offer a promising avenue for future prevention and/or rehabilitation stress research. Considering that policing is well known for being a particularly stressful occupation, Emergency Responders Officers (EROs) stress levels were investigated. Particularly, this study analyzed: (i) physiological stress data obtained during shifts and compared these data with baseline levels (days off), as well as (ii) with normative values for healthy populations; (iii) stress symptoms differences from beginning to end of shift; (iv) stress events and events intensity and (v) the acceptability and feasibility of this proof-of-concept study in a highly stressful occupation. A Geo-location event system was used to help retrospective accounts of psychological stress, combined with electrocardiogram (ECG) data and mobile self-reports, that include stress symptoms, event types and event intensity. Results suggest that EROs experience high levels of stress (both on-duty and off duty) when compared to healthy populations. Stress symptoms increase from the beginning to end of the shift. However, the mean events intensity was very low. It can be concluded that stress may not always be diagnosed when using merely self-reports. These findings highlight the importance of combining both self-report and physiological stress measures in occupational health contexts. Finally, results confirm the acceptability and feasibility of the multi-method used. Key implications for policy makers and applied practitioners in the area of occupational health and future research directions are discussed

Real-Time Associations Between Engaging in Leisure and Daily Health and Well-Being

BackgroundEngagement in leisure has a wide range of beneficial health effects. Yet, this evidence is derived from between-person methods that do not examine the momentary within-person processes theorized to explain leisure's benefits.PurposeThis study examined momentary relationships between leisure and health and well-being in daily life.MethodsA community sample (n = 115) completed ecological momentary assessments six times a day for three consecutive days. At each measurement, participants indicated if they were engaging in leisure and reported on their mood, interest/boredom, and stress levels. Next, participants collected a saliva sample for cortisol analyses. Heart rate was assessed throughout the study.ResultsMultilevel models revealed that participants had more positive and less negative mood, more interest, less stress, and lower heart rate when engaging in leisure than when not.ConclusionsResults suggest multiple mechanisms explaining leisure's effectiveness, which can inform leisure-based interventions to improve health and well-being

A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship between Role Stress and Organizational Commitment: the Moderating Effects of Occupational Type and Culture

The demand for employees to be more productive while also being adaptable to new organizational pressures has intensified the nature of work and the demands placed upon employees. We meta-analyzed the relationship between employee role stress and organizational commitment and tested the effects of two potential moderators of this relationship. One-hundred and five studies (N = 37,993 individuals) conducted from 2001 to 2019 were included in the meta-analysis. Significant negative relationships were found between three forms of role stress (role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload) and affective organizational commitment. All role stressors had stronger relationships with affective commitment than with continuance commitment which was not found to be significantly related to any of the types of role stress tested. Overall, employees’ perceived role stress was inversely associated with their desire to stay with the organization (affective commitment) but not their need to stay (continuance commitment) with the organization. Moderator analyses revealed that occupational type and culture significantly influenced role stressor-affective commitment relationships. Specifically, stronger relationships were found for studies conducted in transactional occupations and western cultures. Implications of findings for organizations are discussed and directions for future research are provided.Ye

Coping, confidence, and change within the academy: a longitudinal look at police recruits

This study is based on surveys of police recruits representing four agencies across the United States. The recruits were surveyed at the beginning and end of their academy training and asked about coping strategies and the confidence they had in performing their jobs. Coping shifted significantly over time, with recruits utilizing task-oriented and outreach strategies less frequently at the end of the academy than at the beginning. Avoidance coping strategies were used more frequently by recruits at the end of the academy than at the beginning. Slight changes were also found in the influence of these strategies on job confidence over time, with avoidance coping having a stronger influence in the beginning of the academy than at the end. The role of demographic factors on coping was largely invariant over time, with only slight differences detected. Implications for policy and research are also discussed