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Ireland’s ageing population has resulted in an increasing number of older adults living with frailty. Despite growing attention towards older adults’ and health professionals’ perspectives of frailty, occupational therapy research is limited. This study aims to explore occupational therapists’ perceptions of frailty and how their perceptions impact their approach to the assessment and management of frailty.

Using qualitative descriptive design, 19 occupational therapists working with older adults participated in online focus groups. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.

Perceptions of occupational therapists were constructed into three main themes: conceptualising frailty; management of frailty; and advancing frailty practice. Findings indicate that occupational therapists perceived frailty as a multidimensional concept but highlight a reluctance to use frailty terminology with patients. Findings also suggest that although occupational therapists are involved in provision of care for older adults living with frailty, the profession’s scope is not optimised in the assessment and management of frailty.

Findings provide insight into occupational therapists’ perceptions of frailty. Development of a shared understanding of frailty between clinicians and patients and enhancement of undergraduate frailty education are recommended to progress occupational therapy’s role in frailty management.

This paper explores Lean Six Sigma principles and the DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) methodology to propose a new Lean Six Sigma 4.0 (LSS 4.0) framework for employee occupational exams and address the real-world issue of high-variability exams that may arise.

This study uses mixed methods, combining qualitative and quantitative data collection. A detailed case study assesses the impact of LSS interventions on the exam management process and tests the applicability of the proposed LSS 4.0 framework for employee occupational exams.

The results reveal that changing the health service supplier in the explored organization caused a substantial raise in occupational exams, leading to increased costs. By using syntactic interoperability, lean, six sigma and DMAIC approaches, improvements were identified, addressing process deviations and information requirements. Implementing corrective actions improved the exam process, reducing the number of exams and associated expenses.

It is important to acknowledge certain limitations, such as the specific context of the case study and the exclusion of certain exam categories.

The practical implications of this research are substantial, providing organizations with valuable managerial insights into improving efficiency, reducing costs and ensuring regulatory compliance while managing occupational exams.

This study fills a research gap by applying LSS 4.0 to occupational exam management, offering a practical framework for organizations. It contributes to the existing knowledge base by addressing a relatively novel context and providing a detailed roadmap for process optimization.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between gender occupational intensity and wages in the Northern Triangle of Central America using national surveys carried out in 2014.

A harmonized occupational classification at the -digit level is built with the objective of analyzing the occupational distribution across countries. Then, quantile regressions (QRs) are estimated to explore in detail which factors are affecting the wages of both females and males; in particular, this paper pays special attention to female occupational intensity (the share of females within each occupation).

The comparative analysis suggests that women are overrepresented in certain occupations, and they are much more likely to be working in part-time jobs than men in all countries. Furthermore, findings reveal that working in female-dominated occupations has a negative effect on wages along the distribution across countries. However, the effect of this variable is higher at the lower quantile of the distribution for women, especially in El Salvador and Honduras.

This paper first proposes a new typology of occupations, which allows a consistent and comparable analysis of the occupational structure. The results then provide a picture to address gender occupational intensity and its links with wages. Further, the characteristics of the labor market and differences in trends across these countries suggest that this topic requires challenging research for the region.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-03-2021-0165

This study examines why and when nurses' role ambiguity leads to their work alienation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Survey data were collected from 335 hospital nurses in Ma’anshan, China. The data were analyzed using hierarchical regression and bootstrapping.

Occupational disidentification mediated the relationship between role ambiguity and work alienation. This mediating effect was not significant when nurses possessed a high level of perceived climate of prioritizing COVID-19 infection prevention (PCIP).

To reduce nurses' work alienation in a pandemic situation, the hospital management team should pay attention to and try to minimize the nurses' role ambiguity and occupational disidentification. When doing so, the management team will find it particularly helpful if they can make nurses perceive a strong climate of PCIP.

This study contributes to the existing knowledge of role ambiguity and work alienation by highlighting occupational disidentification as a mediator after controlling for organizational identification in the context of COVID-19. It further demonstrates when the mediating role of occupational disidentification is likely to be strong or weak by studying the moderating effect of perceived climate of PCIP.

The construction industry is one of the most stressful industries. Thus, quantity surveyors (QSs) who work at sites frequently experience high levels of occupational stress. The gender of a QS also has a significant impact on his/her occupational stress. Hence, this study aims to investigate the management of occupational stress in QSs working at sites for contractors (hereinafter referred to as CQSs).

The study adopted a mixed approach using semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey for female and male CQSs to identify, validate and rank the stressors and symptoms of occupational stress in CQSs and the strategies of managing that stress based on their significance levels. Manual content analysis and the mean weighted rating were used to analyse the data collected.

Heavy workload was the most significant occupational stressor of CQSs, whereas sleeping disorders were their primary symptom of occupational stress. Establishing a proper work programme was identified as the most effective stress management strategy for male and female CQSs. This study shows that many site QSs are stressed owing to their heavy workloads and work obligations and that their stress-related attributes significantly depend on their genders.

This study is significant because no previous studies have been conducted on managing occupational stress in CQSs in male and female CQSs. The study findings can be used to identify the stressors and symptoms of occupational stress in CQSs early and use appropriate management strategies to enhance the work satisfaction and productivity of CQSs suffering from occupational stress.

The high turnover rate among interns exacerbates the shortage of human resources in the hospitality industry. This study is based on previous concerns about the impact of occupational stigma and internship on turnover intention. This study aims to explore how the career adaptability of interns influences their perception of occupational stigma and occupational identity.

By using stratified sampling, semistructured interviews were conducted with 34 respondents who had academic and vocational education backgrounds. The data analysis was performed using the thematic analysis method.

This study demonstrates that a high level of career adaptability helps to reduce interns’ perception of occupational stigma and strengthen their occupational identity. Students from academic and vocational schools display different levels of career adaptability in terms of job matching and career promotion. In addition, the long-term influence on occupational identity is more significant from professional development potential compared to job adaptation.

This study provides valuable insights into the complex relationship between occupational stigma and occupational identity from the perspective of career adaptability. Moreover, it highlights the importance of job adaption, matching, promotion and professional development in retaining talent within the hospitality industry.

This study innovatively focuses on job matching and career promotion for coping with occupational stigma. It also considers interns’ educational backgrounds, facilitating further understanding of occupational identity under the influence of stigma. A fresh perspective on talent adaptation and retention in the hospitality industry is provided.

实习生的高流动率加剧了酒店业人力资源的短缺。本研究在职业污名与实习对离职倾向影响的研究基础上, 主要探讨了实习生的职业适应如何影响其职业污名感知和职业认同。

研究采用分层抽样的方法, 对34名拥有学术和职业教育背景的受访者进行半结构访谈, 并采用主题分析法进行数据分析。

研究发现, 良好的职业适应有助于减少实习生的职业污名感知, 并增强其职业认同。学术学校和职业学校的学生在工作匹配和职业晋升方面表现出不同程度的职业适应。此外, 职业发展潜力对职业认同的影响比工作适应更加长远。

本研究从职业适应的角度对职业污名与职业认同之间的复杂关系提供了有价值的见解。此外, 它还强调了工作适应、匹配、晋升和专业发展在酒店业人才保留方面的重要性。

本研究创新地关注了职业匹配与职业晋升对应对职业污名和提升职业认同的影响。研究还考虑了实习生教育背景的差异性, 进一步深化对污名影响下的职业认同的理解, 为酒店行业的人才适应和保留提供了一个新的研究视角。

La elevada tasa de rotación entre los trabajadores en prácticas agrava la escasez de recursos humanos en el sector de la hostelería. Este estudio se basa en preocupaciones previas sobre el impacto del estigma ocupacional y las prácticas en la intención de rotación. Explora principalmente cómo influye la adaptabilidad profesional de los becarios en su percepción del estigma ocupacional y la identidad ocupacional.

Mediante un muestreo estratificado, se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas a 34 encuestados con formación académica y profesional. El análisis de los datos se realizó mediante el método de análisis temático.

Este estudio demuestra que un alto nivel de adaptabilidad profesional contribuye a reducir la percepción de estigma ocupacional de los estudiantes en prácticas y a reforzar su identidad ocupacional. Los estudiantes de escuelas académicas y de formación profesional muestran diferentes niveles de adaptabilidad profesional en términos de adecuación al puesto de trabajo y promoción profesional. Además, la influencia a largo plazo sobre la identidad ocupacional es más significativa del potencial de desarrollo profesional en comparación con la adaptación laboral.

El estudio aporta información valiosa sobre la compleja relación entre el estigma ocupacional y la identidad ocupacional desde la perspectiva de la adaptabilidad profesional. Además, pone de relieve la importancia de la adaptación del puesto de trabajo, el emparejamiento, la promoción y el desarrollo profesional para retener el talento dentro de la industria de la hostelería.

Este estudio se centra de forma innovadora en la adecuación al puesto de trabajo y la promoción profesional para hacer frente al estigma laboral. También tiene en cuenta los antecedentes educativos de los becarios, lo que facilita una mayor comprensión de la identidad ocupacional bajo la influencia del estigma. Se aporta una nueva perspectiva sobre la adaptación y la retención del talento en la industria de la hostelería.

This study aims to examine the existing literature on sleep-related interventions and confirm the intervention methods and their effectiveness led by occupational therapists.

All the relevant literature published from 2010 to June 31, 2022, in five prominent databases were searched using the five-stage review framework proposed by Arksey and O’Malley.

In this review, four types of sleep-related interventions were led by occupational therapists (tool use, exercise program, sleep education and occupational-based program). When the intervention was analyzed based on its content, occupational therapists demonstrated excellent ability in interventions based on sensory intervention and lifestyle redesign.

Various factors cause sleep problems; hence, the development of individualized and extensive occupational therapy intervention methods is required.

Higher levels of participation in school are linked to greater academic performance, better health and well-being and positive long-term outcomes for young people. Evidence shows that for students with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD), participation in school-based occupations is often restricted in comparison to their peers. Given the recent advancements towards introducing a new model of school-based occupational therapy in Ireland, this paper aims to discuss how occupational therapy can support students with EBD to increase their participation within the post-primary school context. The opinions in this paper are derived from the authors’ experience in the development of this practice in the Republic of Ireland.

The authors reviewed current literature and reflected on current practice to describe the unique role of occupational therapy in supporting students with EBD in the school environment.

Occupational therapists have potential to play a key role in school-based support for students with EBD. The authors describe how occupational therapists can promote whole school understanding of EBD and enable skill development, self-regulation, participation and school belonging, among youths with EBD. There is a significant lack of literature guiding practice in this area. Further research is required to explore professional issues and identify best practice.

This paper aims to provoke consideration of how school-based occupational therapists can play a crucial role in supporting students with EBD who are otherwise at risk of occupational injustice.