Search results

This longitudinal panel study examined the relationship of three dimensions of control (personal, job and organizational) assessed in the initial phase of a hospital amalgamation on nurses’ reactions two years later during the amalgamation period. The participants were 179 full‐time nurses employed in four community hospitals being amalgamated into two. Nurses reported low organizational control, a finding consistent with the sense of powerlessness frequently associated with nurses. The hypothesis that the three types of control would differentially predict nurses’ reactions to the hospital amalgamation was supported. Personal control significantly predicted changes in perceived co‐worker support and help‐seeking coping over the amalgamation period. Job control significantly predicted changes in perceived supervisor support and direct action coping (putting more effort into doing one’s job) over the amalgamation period. Organizational control significantly predicted changes in perceived hospital support and trust in the hospital over the amalgamation period. The findings indicate the need to include more than one dimension of control in investigations of nurses’ sense of powerlessness and the importance of matching the type of control to outcome variables.

In a village where the (audible) population is fairly evenly split between men and women, where most women of working age are employed or run their own business, where women are even (gasp!) in the cricket team, surely they have better things to talk about than the men in their lives? How often do the women of Ambridge talk about things that aren't the men of Ambridge? And when they do, how long does the conversation last? The Bechdel–Wallace Test was created by Alison Bechdel in her webcomic Dykes to Watch Out For (1985), in which a character says that she will only watch a film that has at least two women in it, who talk to each other, about something other than a man. It is sometimes used as a simplistic measure of the lack of representation (not only of women) in the media. This chapter reports on five months of eavesdropping in Ambridge, using the Bechdel–Wallace Test to investigate gender bias in the Borsetshire countryside. The data show that one-third of the episodes during this period passed the test, while another third did not contain any conversations between women at all. The results include how often individual women speak to other women, which pairs converse most frequently and the main topics of conversation during the analysis period.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of “return to work” schemes by examining their perceived usefulness and their impact on beneficiaries' attempt to return to employment.

The evaluation, which was based on the TAM principles, incorporated feedback questionnaires, observations, focus groups, logbooks, documentation and informal interviews.

It was found that the provision of diverse schemes that were delivered both individually and collectively through multiple forms, allied with the opportunities to explore, interact and share experiences, concerns and ideas, have helped to empower participants and increase their opportunities for return to work.

Although the study was limited to those women who wanted to return to employment, it nevertheless found that there is an interconnected web of impacts which participants experience, in order to develop themselves and achieve a return to employment.

The study can be used by employers, government and industry associations to influence socially‐responsible and ethically aware practices that would advance women's employment in high‐tech jobs.

Using a mixture of data collection methods, the research not only captured women returners' experiences, but also enabled them to “speak for themselves”, ensuring a balance in the discussion and a justification of the interpretations.