Beyond Prejudice as Simple Antipathy: Hostile and Benevolent Sexism Across Cultures

The authors argue that complementary hostile and benevolent componen:s of sexism exist ac ro.ss cultures. Male dominance creates hostile sexism (HS). but men's dependence on women fosters benevolent sexism (BS)-subjectively positive attitudes that put women on a pedestal but reinforce their subordination. Research with 15,000 men and women in 19 nations showed that (a) HS and BS are coherenl constructs th at correlate positively across nations, but (b) HS predicts the ascription of negative and BS the ascription of positive traits to women, (c) relative to men, women are more likely to reject HS than BS. especially when overall levels of sexism in a culture are high, and (d) national averages on BS and HS predict gender inequal ity across nations. These results challenge prevailing notions of prejudice as an antipathy in that BS (an affectionate, patronizing ideology) reflects inequality and is a cross-culturally pervasive complement to HS

Political branding: sense of identity or identity crisis? An investigation of the transfer potential of the brand identity prism to the UK Conservative Party

Brands are strategic assets and key to achieving a competitive advantage. Brands can be seen as a heuristic device, encapsulating a series of values that enable the consumer to make quick and efficient choices. More recently, the notion of a political brand and the rhetoric of branding have been widely adopted by many political parties as they seek to differentiate themselves, and this has led to an emerging interest in the idea of the political brand. Therefore, this paper examines the UK Conservative Party brand under David Cameron’s leadership and examines the applicability of Kapferer’s brand identity prism to political branding. This paper extends and operationalises the brand identity prism into a ‘political brand identity network’ which identifies the inter-relatedness of the components of the corporate political brand and the candidate political brand. Crucial for practitioners, this model can demonstrate how the brand is presented and communicated to the electorate and serves as a useful mechanism to identify consistency within the corporate and candidate political brands

The ‘spirit of sport’, WADAs code review, and the search for an overlapping consensus

In this paper, we argue for the recognition that anti-doping is in itself first and foremost an ethical position. The current World Anti-doping Code formulation of ‘the spirit of sport’ is an acknowledgement of this point and a counterweight against scientific and technicist understandings of the nature of anti-doping itself. We critically review the Code formulations on ‘the spirit of sport’. Based on a theoretical background of various approaches to normative agreement and consensus in a setting of diversity of ‘comprehensive views’, we argue for revision of the Code. Specifically, we argue for a re-formulation of ‘the spirit of sport’ in terms of athlete protection and the preservation of the integrity of sporting competition that could meet requirements on an overlapping consensus among all WADA stakeholders. This is not just a matter of formality and Code acceptance. An overlapping consensus is not a mere modus vivendi but a normative consensus based on fair, honest, and transparent discourse in which participants deliberate in a setting of mutual respect and trust, and of ‘decency’, which is a basis for a consensus that cultivates authentic stakeholder commitment

Scoring and psychometric properties of the Eye-Drop Satisfaction Questionnaire (EDSQ), an instrument to assess satisfaction and compliance with glaucoma treatment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The objective of this study was to ascertain the scoring and assess the psychometric properties of the Eye-Drop Satisfaction Questionnaire (EDSQ), a 43-item Patient-Reported Outcome instrument developed to assess patients' satisfaction and compliance with glaucoma treatment.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The EDSQ was administered during an observational, retrospective study to 184 French patients treated for glaucoma. The hypothesized structure, including six dimensions (patient-clinician relationship; patient experience; patient-treatment interaction; apprehension; patient knowledge; travel), was tested by assessing the internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha) and construct-related validity (item convergent and discriminant validity). As unsatisfactory results were demonstrated, another structure was defined using a principal component analysis (PCA) combined with content of items. Psychometric properties of this new structure were assessed. Scores were compared between low, moderate and high compliance profile groups defined using data collected with the Travalert electronic device.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Analyses were performed with the 169 patients who completed at least half of the EDSQ items. The hypothesized structure showed a Cronbach's alpha lower than 0.70 for four dimensions out of six and an overall poor construct-related validity (range of item-scale correlations: 0.00-0.68). The new structure obtained with the PCA included six dimensions: concern about treatment (five items); concern about disease (two items); satisfaction with patient-clinician relationship (five items); positive beliefs (three items); treatment convenience (three items); and self-declared compliance (three items). A score ranging from 0 to 100 was calculated for each dimension, with higher scores indicating more of the attribute referred to in the dimension. Internal consistency reliability was good (Cronbach's alpha greater than 0.70 for five dimensions). The structure offered good construct-related validity (range of item-scale correlations: 0.36-0.82). Ceiling effects of 21% and 49%, were observed for the satisfaction with patient-clinician relationship and self-declared compliance scores. Patients in low compliance profile group reported the lowest score for the satisfaction with patient-clinician relationship, positive beliefs, treatment convenience and self-declared compliance dimensions, and the highest score for the concern about treatment dimension.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The scoring of the EDSQ was developed and the questionnaire proved to have satisfactory psychometric properties. EDSQ scores showed a promising relationship to compliance profiles. The EDSQ could be used in future studies.</p

Nutritional care of medical inpatients: a health technology assessment

BACKGROUND: The inspiration for the present assessment of the nutritional care of medical patients is puzzlement about the divide that exists between the theoretical knowledge about the importance of the diet for ill persons, and the common failure to incorporate nutritional aspects in the treatment and care of the patients. The purpose is to clarify existing problems in the nutritional care of Danish medical inpatients, to elucidate how the nutritional care for these inpatients can be improved, and to analyse the costs of this improvement. METHODS: Qualitative and quantitative methods are deployed to outline how nutritional care of medical inpatients is performed at three Danish hospitals. The practices observed are compared with official recommendations for nutritional care of inpatients. Factors extraneous and counterproductive to optimal nutritional care are identified from the perspectives of patients and professional staff. A review of the literature illustrates the potential for optimal nutritional care. A health economic analysis is performed to elucidate the savings potential of improved nutritional care. RESULTS: The prospects for improvements in nutritional care are ameliorated if hospital management clearly identifies nutritional care as a priority area, and enjoys access to management tools for quality assurance. The prospects are also improved if a committed professional at the ward has the necessary time resources to perform nutritional care in practice, and if the care staff can requisition patient meals rich in nutrients 24 hours a day. At the kitchen production level prospects benefit from a facilitator contact between care and kitchen staff, and if the kitchen staff controls the whole food path from the kitchen to the patient. At the patient level, prospects are improved if patients receive information about the choice of food and drink, and have a better nutrition dialogue with the care staff. Better nutritional care of medical patients in Denmark is estimated to hold a cost savings potential reaching approximately USD 22 million. CONCLUSION: Every hospital and every bed ward has its strengths and weaknesses, but none of the participating bed wards fully satisfy nutritional care success criteria. All organisational levels have a significant potential for improvements of nutritional care of medical inpatients

Validation of the adherence evaluation of osteoporosis treatment (ADEOS) questionnaire for osteoporotic post-menopausal women

SUMMARY: We developed and validated a specific 12-item questionnaire to evaluate adherence to oral antiresorptive medication by post-menopausal osteoporotic women in everyday practice. Over the following 9 months, an index of ≤16 was associated with an increase in the risk of treatment discontinuation of 1.69 and of 2.10 for new patients who had started treatment within the previous year. INTRODUCTION: Adherence to medication in osteoporosis is poor. The goal of this study was to develop and validate a disease-specific questionnaire to evaluate adherence to treatment of women with post-menopausal osteoporosis taking oral antiresorptive medication. METHODS: A prototype adherence questionnaire with 45 items developed from patient interview, literature review, and physician opinion was evaluated in a sample of 350 post-menopausal women with osteoporosis treated in primary care. Item responses were matched against scores on the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS). The most discriminant items were retained in the final questionnaire. Concurrent and predictive validity were assessed. RESULTS: Twelve items were associated with MMAS score at a probability level of 0.05. These were retained in the final questionnaire which provided an adherence index ranging from 0 to 22. An index of ≥20 was associated with a high probability of persistence and an index ≤ 16 with a high probability of treatment discontinuation in the following 9 months. CONCLUSIONS: The ADEOS-12 is a simple patient-reported measure to determine adherence to osteoporosis treatments with good concurrent and discriminant validity. This is the first disease-specific adherence measure to have been developed for osteoporosis

The impact of language barriers on trust formation in multinational teams

This study systematically investigates how language barriers influence trust formation in multinational teams (MNTs). Based on 90 interviews with team members, team leaders, and senior managers in 15 MNTs in three German automotive corporations, we show how MNT members’ cognitive and emotional reactions to language barriers influence their perceived trustworthiness and intention to trust, which in turn affect trust formation. We contribute to diversity research by distinguishing the exclusively negative language effects from the more ambivalent effects of other diversity dimensions. Our findings also illustrate how surface-level language diversity may create perceptions of deep-level diversity. Furthermore, our study advances MNT research by revealing the specific influences of language barriers on team trust, an important mediator between team inputs and performance outcomes. It thereby encourages the examination of other team processes through a language lens. Finally, our study suggests that multilingual settings necessitate a reexamination and modification of the seminal trust theories by Mayer, Davis and Schoorman (1995) and McAllister (1995). In terms of practical implications, we outline how MNT leaders can manage their subordinates’ problematic reactions to language barriers and how MNT members can enhance their perceived trustworthiness in multilingual settings