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Article
Publication date: 4 July 2023

Laoise Gavin, Lisa-Jean O’Callaghan and Ruth Usher

Due to the increasing incidence of dementia in Ireland, there is a need to prepare occupational therapy students for future careers in dementia-focused health care. The purpose of…

Abstract

Purpose

Due to the increasing incidence of dementia in Ireland, there is a need to prepare occupational therapy students for future careers in dementia-focused health care. The purpose of this study are to measure the knowledge and attitudes of Irish undergraduate occupational therapy students towards older people with dementia and examine related variables including year of study, personal and placement dementia experiences and future career choice.

Design/methodology/approach

Data was gathered using a cross-sectional online survey, incorporating the Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge Scale and the Dementia Attitudes Scale, which was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Findings

Seventy-five responses were gathered and analysed, indicating more advanced occupational therapy students demonstrate higher levels of dementia knowledge, but dementia attitudes remain similar across different year groups. Students with clinical dementia experiences displayed comparable levels of dementia knowledge and attitudes to those without. However, students with familial dementia experiences displayed significantly more positive attitudes. The likelihood of selecting a future career with older adults with dementia significantly related to students’ positive dementia attitudes but not dementia knowledge.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first Irish study that focuses on undergraduate occupational therapy students’ dementia knowledge and attitudes. The results could be used to inform and develop Irish undergraduate occupational therapy programmes.

Details

Irish Journal of Occupational Therapy, vol. 51 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-8819

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2022

Rhoda Ansah Quaigrain, De-Graft Owusu-Manu, David John Edwards, Mavis Hammond, Mabel Hammond and Igor Martek

Occupational safety issues among employees remains a contemporary and omnipresent concern. In developing countries, safety-related problems are amplified, resulting in higher…

Abstract

Purpose

Occupational safety issues among employees remains a contemporary and omnipresent concern. In developing countries, safety-related problems are amplified, resulting in higher incidences of serious accidents and occupational diseases. This study aims to evaluate employees’ knowledge and attitudes toward occupational health and safety, and how these influence overall occupational health and safety compliance. Ghana’s oil and gas industry provides the contextual backdrop for this research, given it is characterized by high rates of injury.

Design/methodology/approach

A positivist and deductive research strategy was used to quantitatively analyze both primary and secondary data sources. A structured survey was administered to industry employees, and multiple linear regression was used to establish the effects of employee’s knowledge and attitude toward occupational health hazards on overall health and safety compliance.

Findings

The findings indicate that most employees had both a high level of knowledge and positive attitude toward mitigating occupational health hazards. Moreover, the study reveals that most employees complied with occupational health safety practices. However, the study also reveals that the effect of employees’ knowledge and attitude toward occupational health hazards does not translate into deployment of comprehensive safety practices. Interestingly, female employees were found to be more knowledgeable and compliant with occupational health and safety practices than their male counterparts.

Practical implications

Premised upon the findings, the study recommends: implementation of relevant education and training programs encompassing the proper usage of machinery and equipment, tailored hazard safety training appropriate to specific employee job requirements, effective dissemination of risk information and governance initiatives that enforce strict adherence to correct safety procedures.

Originality/value

The study uniquely examines the influence of employee’s knowledge of health and safety to overall compliance within the oil and gas industry. Cumulatively, the study’s findings and recommendations contribute to improving the occupational health and safety outcomes within the industry.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology , vol. 22 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1726-0531

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 March 2016

Ivan Y. Sun, Jianhong Liu and Ashley K. Farmer

– The purpose of this paper is to assess factors that influence Chinese police supervisors’ attitudes toward police roles, community policing, and job satisfaction.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess factors that influence Chinese police supervisors’ attitudes toward police roles, community policing, and job satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data were collected from police supervisors in a major Chinese city. Multivariate regression was used to assess the effects of officers’ background characteristics and assignments on their occupational attitudes.

Findings

Ethnic minority supervisors were more likely to have a broader order maintenance orientation, a narrower crime fighting orientation, and supportive attitudes toward quality of life activities. Less experienced supervisors were more inclined to favor the order maintenance role. Supervisors with a stronger order maintenance orientation tended to support problem solving activities and have a greater level of job satisfaction. Officers with military service experience also expressed a higher degree of job satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

Survey data collected from a single Chinese city may not be generalizable to officers in other regions and departments.

Practical implications

Police administrators should screen all applicants on attitudes that reflect departmental work priorities and styles of policing during the initial selection process. Desirable attitudes can be further molded into officers during their academic training, field officer training, and in-service training. Police administrators should continue their recruiting efforts targeting former military personnel. With adequate training in fulfilling civilian tasks and displaying proper outlooks, these individuals could become effective members of the forces.

Originality/value

Despite a growing number of studies on crime and justice in China, empirical research on policing in general and on officers’ occupational attitudes in particular remains very limited. This study represents one of the first attempts to assess factors related to police occupational outlooks in China.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 39 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2005

Maria Vakola and Ioannis Nikolaou

Occupational stress and organizational change are now widely accepted as two major issues in organizational life. The current study explores the linkage between employees’…

42173

Abstract

Purpose

Occupational stress and organizational change are now widely accepted as two major issues in organizational life. The current study explores the linkage between employees’ attitudes towards organizational change and two of the most significant constructs in organizational behaviour; occupational stress and organizational commitment.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 292 participants completed ASSET, a new “Organizational Screening Tool”, which, among other things, measures workplace stress and organizational commitment and a measure assessing attitudes towards organizational change.

Findings

The results were in the expected direction showing negative correlations between occupational stressors and attitudes to change, indicating that highly stressed individuals demonstrate decreased commitment and increased reluctance to accept organizational change interventions. The most significant impact on attitudes to change was coming from bad work relationships emphasizing the importance of that occupational stressor on employees’ attitudes towards change. The results did not support the role of organizational commitment as a moderator in the relationship between occupational stress and attitudes to change.

Research limitations/implications

A limitation of the research design could be that all measures originated from the same source resulting in possible contamination from common method variance. Further, the cross‐sectional research design adopted in the present study, as opposed to a longitudinal or experimental methodology, does not allow affirmative causal explanations.

Originality/value

The present study showed that good and effective work relationships are very important in organizational change. Handling conflicts, building supportive work relationships and communicating effectively all contribute to the formulation of positive attitudes to change and, therefore, to the success of a change programme. In addition, organizations need to examine the extra workload which organizational change may create. Increase in workload is not only easily attributable to the change but it also makes change unattractive and problematic leading to non‐supportive attitudes.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 27 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2001

Rita Mano‐Negrin

Occupational preferences and subsequent turnover behaviour are part of a complex relationship between employees and their occupational and organizational labour markets. Both…

1596

Abstract

Occupational preferences and subsequent turnover behaviour are part of a complex relationship between employees and their occupational and organizational labour markets. Both markets contribute to matching skills and jobs. Differences in individual and occupational attributes can predict the direction and intensity of preferences for alternative organizations, occupations and job locations. Occupational preferences, which reflect the attractiveness of alternative positions within and outside the employing organization, are examined as central antecedents of occupation‐specific turnover behaviour. The results of a logistic regression analysis, based on a cross‐sectional occupational representative data set of 700 medical sector employees and a follow‐up sample of 81 “quitters”, suggest that turnover behaviour is influenced by organizational and occupational employment opportunities and occupational preferences.

Details

Journal of Management in Medicine, vol. 15 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-9235

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 September 2020

Muhammad Arshad, Mariam Farooq, Muhammad Atif and Omer Farooq

This study aims to analyze individuals’ entrepreneurial intentions from the perspective of motivational theory and examines the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on…

1085

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to analyze individuals’ entrepreneurial intentions from the perspective of motivational theory and examines the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on entrepreneurial intentions of male and female individuals.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from students graduating from Pakistan’s largest university. A structural equation modeling technique was used for model testing.

Findings

Intrinsic factors such as intrinsic interest and community feeling aspiration and extrinsic factors such as perceived relative income and occupational prestige positively affect attitudes and, in turn, stimulate entrepreneurial intentions. Further, as intrinsic interest and perceived relative income scored higher among men, gender moderates those effects. Conversely, the entrepreneurial attitudes of women were primarily driven by community feeling aspiration. Notably, the positive effect of occupational prestige did not vary among men and women.

Originality/value

This paper explores the roles of intrinsic and extrinsic factors in the entrepreneurial intentions of men and women. The integration of motivational theory with gender provides insights into the determinants of entrepreneurial intentions in South Asia.

Details

Gender in Management: An International Journal , vol. 36 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2413

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 September 2012

Gary Blau, Ed Boyer, Kathleen Davis, Richard Flanagan, Sreenu Konda, Than Lam, Andrea Lopez and Christopher Monos

The aim of the paper is to formally test that physical exhaustion is distinguishable from work exhaustion, and to investigate common as well as differential correlates of each…

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of the paper is to formally test that physical exhaustion is distinguishable from work exhaustion, and to investigate common as well as differential correlates of each type of exhaustion.

Design/methodology/approach

An on‐line survey sample of 1,895 complete‐data massage therapists and body workers (MT & BWs) was used to test the study hypotheses.

Findings

Factor analytic support was found for distinguishable measures of work exhaustion and physical exhaustion. In separate regression models common significant correlates for both types of exhaustion included: gender (females higher), higher surface acting, higher accumulated and continuing education occupational costs, and lower job satisfaction. However, job satisfaction had a significantly stronger negative correlation to work exhaustion versus physical exhaustion. Looking at impact on occupational outcomes, physical exhaustion had a stronger positive correlation to being forced to stay in occupation than work exhaustion, but work exhaustion had a stronger positive correlation to intent to leave occupation than physical exhaustion. Unique correlates for work exhaustion included more years in practice and lower education level, while unique correlates for physical exhaustion included: more average days worked/week, higher deep acting, and higher occupational identification.

Research limitations/implications

From a measurement perspective, the three‐item measure of physical exhaustion and five item measure of work exhaustion each had a good reliability. However, ideally more items should be used to measure physical exhaustion, and other work exhaustion scales should be utilized to validate the results. Expanding the job demands‐resources framework to also include occupational‐level variables, such as accumulated costs, seems to hold promise for helping to further understand the antecedents of exhaustion.

Practical implications

Work and physical exhaustion can impact on occupational outcomes and are risks for other samples such as nurses, home health care aides, physical therapists, and athletic trainers. Many MT & BWs work alone and meditation is suggested as an effective method to improve job satisfaction, reduce work exhaustion and decrease occupational intent to leave.

Originality/value

The paper uses a sample of massage therapists and body workers and overall the findings suggest that work exhaustion and physical exhaustion are related but distinct exhaustion components.

Details

Career Development International, vol. 17 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1362-0436

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1988

David Macarov

The author argues that we must stop and take a look at what our insistence on human labour as the basis of our society is doing to us, and begin to search for possible…

2392

Abstract

The author argues that we must stop and take a look at what our insistence on human labour as the basis of our society is doing to us, and begin to search for possible alternatives. We need the vision and the courage to aim for the highest level of technology attainable for the widest possible use in both industry and services. We need financial arrangements that will encourage people to invent themselves out of work. Our goal, the article argues, must be the reduction of human labour to the greatest extent possible, to free people for more enjoyable, creative, human activities.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 8 no. 2/3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1979

Keith Newton, Norman Leckie and Barrie O. Pettman

The body of literature in the field now commonly known as the “quality of working life” (QWL) has grown steadily over a period in which the industrialised nations have…

Abstract

The body of literature in the field now commonly known as the “quality of working life” (QWL) has grown steadily over a period in which the industrialised nations have increasingly come to question the role and status of human beings in the modern technological environment. In recent years concern with the nature of work, its impact upon people, and their attitudes towards it, seem to have sharpened. Investigation of, and experimentation with, the qualitative aspects of working life—its ability to confer self‐fulfilment directly, for example, as opposed to being a means of acquiring goods—has gained momentum under the influence of a unique set of economic, social, political and technological factors. The outpouring of books, reports and articles from a wide variety of sources has, not surprisingly, grown apace.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 6 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Article
Publication date: 25 November 2020

Michelle Nathalie Eliasson

The purpose of this study is to explore how Swedish police officers describe occupational knowledge. By learning more about how officers describe occupational knowledge, the study…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore how Swedish police officers describe occupational knowledge. By learning more about how officers describe occupational knowledge, the study gives more insight about the types of information that they may be more likely to adopt in their occupational tasks.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, the author conducted 27 semi-structured interviews with Swedish police officers. I asked officers several open-ended questions about their everyday work life and professional experience.

Findings

Swedish officers divide knowledge into two categories, which are theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge. Theoretical knowledge is learned in the academy and is described as “black and white,” meaning that it is considered static and not applicable to what happens out in patrol. Practical knowledge is learned in the field from colleagues.

Research limitations/implications

Police officers around the world have a wide range of requirements and training to become police officers. However, empirical studies have found that officers tend to use different types of information when performing policing tasks. Depending on how information is perceived and is taught, officers may respond differently to different types of knowledge, due to their evaluation of the validity of the knowledge.

Originality/value

The findings in this study support previous empirical studies on the area of policing and knowledge in two ways; first, this study argues that there is a categorization of knowledge among police officers. Second, this study suggests that officers view one occupational knowledge type as more theoretical and one as more practical.

Details

Policing: An International Journal, vol. 44 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

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