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Article
Publication date: 4 October 2018

Danielle M. Fenimore and Wesley G. Jennings

The purpose of this paper is to use data from the Longitudinal Study of Violent Criminal Behavior in the USA to examine case configurations of violent behavior using a…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to use data from the Longitudinal Study of Violent Criminal Behavior in the USA to examine case configurations of violent behavior using a biopsychosocial framework. Specifically, the theory posits that arguably all behavior is the result of specific combinations of biopsychological (individual) and sociocultural (environmental) characteristics that are interacting within the individual. With regard to criminal and violent behavior, the theoretical assumption is that this maladaptive behavior is the result of a negative interaction between the biopsychological and sociocultural factors.

Design/methodology/approach

The study design consists of secondary data analysis. A conjunctive analysis of case configurations was performed using data from the Longitudinal Survey of Violent Criminal Behavior to formally explore the tenets of Cortés and Gatti’s (1972) biopsychosocial theory.

Findings

The results suggest that there are main effects for ego strength, family problems, family incohesiveness and underachievement as they relate to offending. A possible six-way interaction was also identified within the case configurations that provides empirical support for Cortés and Gatti’s (1972) biopsychosocial theory of deviance.

Originality/value

The present study contributes to the existing biopsychosocial literature by providing insight on the contextual variability in pathways to violent offending. Specifically, the evidence provided indicates that Cortés and Gatti’s (1972) biopsychosocial theory of deviance can be extended to comparing violent and non-violent offenders. Implications for policy and practice are also discussed.

Details

Journal of Criminal Psychology, vol. 8 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2009-3829

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 September 2020

Kaz Stuart, Mark A. Faghy, Elaine Bidmead, Ruth Browning, Catriona Roberts, Sam Grimwood and Thea Winn-Reed

This paper proposes a biopsychosocial (BPS) analysis of COVID-19 experiences which enhances understanding of complex and interrelated factors and leads to the proposition of a BPS…

1796

Abstract

Purpose

This paper proposes a biopsychosocial (BPS) analysis of COVID-19 experiences which enhances understanding of complex and interrelated factors and leads to the proposition of a BPS recovery framework.

Design/methodology/approach

Online narrative research was used to explore people's experiences of COVID-19 and was conducted over a four-month period. The call was distributed via a short open-ended qualitative online survey advertised on social media platforms and 305 responses came from across England.

Findings

The findings illustrate people with a narrow range of BPS characteristics experienced over a wide range of BPS impacts which are nuanced, complex and dynamic. Left unaddressed these may create future adverse BPS characteristics. An integrated BPS framework for recovery is proposed to avoid such further negative outcomes from the pandemic.

Research limitations/implications

The sample contained a bias in age, gender and living arrangements.

Practical implications

The paper offers a clear framework to enable integrated holistic recovery/regrowth planning.

Social implications

Using the framework would reduce social and health inequities which have been recently deepened by COVID-19 in the long-term.

Originality/value

The paper is original in its use of a BPS analytical framework.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 40 no. 9/10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 5 September 2018

Ethan W. Gossett and P. D. Harms

Acute and chronic pain affects more Americans than heart disease, diabetes, and cancer combined. Conservative estimates suggest the total economic cost of pain in the United…

Abstract

Acute and chronic pain affects more Americans than heart disease, diabetes, and cancer combined. Conservative estimates suggest the total economic cost of pain in the United States is $600 billion, and more than half of this cost is due to lost productivity, such as absenteeism, presenteeism, and turnover. In addition, an escalating opioid epidemic in the United States and abroad spurred by a lack of safe and effective pain management has magnified challenges to address pain in the workforce, particularly the military. Thus, it is imperative to investigate the organizational antecedents and consequences of pain and prescription opioid misuse (POM). This chapter provides a brief introduction to pain processing and the biopsychosocial model of pain, emphasizing the relationship between stress, emotional well-being, and pain in the military workforce. We review personal and organizational risk and protective factors for pain, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, optimism, perceived organizational support, and job strain. Further, we discuss the potential adverse impact of pain on organizational outcomes, the rise of POM in military personnel, and risk factors for POM in civilian and military populations. Lastly, we propose potential organizational interventions to mitigate pain and provide the future directions for work, stress, and pain research.

Details

Occupational Stress and Well-Being in Military Contexts
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-184-7

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 June 2019

Martin Frutiger, Tamasin Taylor and Robert James Borotkanics

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between self-reported non-specific neck pain (NSNP) with presenteeism and biopsychosocial factors in office workers.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between self-reported non-specific neck pain (NSNP) with presenteeism and biopsychosocial factors in office workers.

Design/methodology/approach

This cross-sectional study was conducted on office workers (n=119) from four workplaces in Sydney, Australia. Data were collected using online questionnaires comprising the Neck Pain and Disability Scale, Neck Bournemouth Index and Stanford Presenteeism Scale 6. Psychosocial factors were explored given their etiological and maintenance roles in musculoskeletal disorders. A combination of linear, generalised linear and ordinal regression models were applied.

Findings

The study found that presenteeism was significantly associated with NSNP. Psychosocial factors such as concentration, emotional stress, anxiety, depression and outlook were found to be associated with increased NSNP.

Research limitations/implications

This research has implications as it expands understanding of the interplay between presenteeism and NSNP and psychosocial factors in the workplace.

Originality/value

The study identified the importance of organisations being able to identify when an office worker may be working while experiencing NSNP and how they may best support their employee’s recovery to prevent long-term disability and work productivity issues. These findings inform workplace policy formation by public health agencies.

Details

International Journal of Workplace Health Management, vol. 12 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8351

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 February 2020

Fernando Hormazabal, Leonardo Lavanderos and Alejandro Malpartida

The biopsychosocial model (BPSM) on chronic pain is an interactive psychophysiological behavior pattern that cannot be separated into different independent components. However…

Abstract

Purpose

The biopsychosocial model (BPSM) on chronic pain is an interactive psychophysiological behavior pattern that cannot be separated into different independent components. However, the epistemological analysis of the classic BPSM, based on “biopsychosocial factors,” can be reduced to a list of biological, psychological and social factors, which can be addressed simultaneously, but independently, where simultaneity is seen as relationality. The purpose of this paper is to achieve a systemic and transdisciplinary vision of the idea of simultaneity and multidisciplinarity of the BPSM and propose a new model for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic pain.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the following conceptual triad, co-autonomy, centralization and non-requisite variety, to constitute systemic indicators, the authors design a new conceptual model of cohesion, communication, conduction and coordination (CO4) model to deal with the relational system of chronic pain patients.

Findings

The indicators of the CO4 system as transdisciplinary structure create and focus a completely new relationship regarding the relational system of the chronic pain patients. This new conceptual framework transcends the objects and frameworks of each discipline separately, going beyond the multidisciplinary model.

Originality/value

The CO4 model allows a diagnostic and therapeutic standardization as a new model on chronic pain, improving therapeutic efficiency, resource use and laying the foundation for a common language in future chronic pain research.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 50 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 4 August 2017

Peter G. Roma and Wendy L. Bedwell

To better understand contributing factors and mediating mechanisms related to team dynamics in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments.

Abstract

Purpose

To better understand contributing factors and mediating mechanisms related to team dynamics in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments.

Methodology/approach

Literature review.

Findings

Our primary focus is on cohesion and adaptation – two critical aspects of team performance in ICE environments that have received increased attention in both the literature and funding initiatives. We begin by describing the conditions that define ICE environments and review relevant individual biological, neuropsychiatric, and environmental factors that interact with team dynamics. We then outline a unifying team cohesion framework for long-duration missions and discuss several environmental, operational, organizational, and psychosocial factors that can impact team dynamics. Finally, we end with a discussion of directions for future research and countermeasure development, emphasizing the importance of temporal dynamics, multidisciplinary integration, and novel conceptual frameworks for the inherently mixed work and social setting of long-duration missions in ICE environments.

Social implications

A better understanding of team dynamics over time can contribute to success in a variety of organizational settings, including space exploration, defense and security, business, education, athletics, and social relationships.

Originality/value

We promote a multidisciplinary approach to team dynamics in ICE environments that incorporates dynamic biological, behavioral, psychological, and organizational factors over time.

Article
Publication date: 15 March 2013

Alex Dregan, Tea Lallukka and David Armstrong

Typologies of sleep problems have usually relied on identifying underlying causes or symptom clusters. The purpose of this paper is to explore the value of using the patient's own…

Abstract

Purpose

Typologies of sleep problems have usually relied on identifying underlying causes or symptom clusters. The purpose of this paper is to explore the value of using the patient's own reasons for sleep disturbance.

Design/methodology/approach

Using secondary data analysis of a nationally representative psychiatric survey the patterning of the various reasons respondents provided for self‐reported sleep problems were examined. Over two thirds (69.3 per cent) of respondents could identify a specific reason for their sleep problem with worry (37.9 per cent) and illness (20.1 per cent) representing the most commonly reported reasons. And while women reported more sleep problems for almost every reason compared with men, the patterning of reasons by age showed marked variability. Sleep problem symptoms such as difficulty getting to sleep or waking early also showed variability by different reasons, as did the association with major correlates such as worry, depression, anxiety and poor health.

Findings

While prevalence surveys of “insomnia” or “poor sleep” often assume the identification of an underlying homogeneous construct, there may be grounds for recognising the existence of different sleep problem types, particularly in the context of the patient's perceived reason for the problem.

Originality/value

A typology based on reasons presents a different snapshot of the landscape of insomnia. Using patient's reasons to underpin a sleep nosology is an alternative way of sub‐dividing patients' symptoms which has some face validity given the “subjective” associations between reasons and symptoms.

Details

Journal of Public Mental Health, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5729

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 May 2021

David P. Farrington and Henriette Bergstrøm

Previous research has indicated that low resting heart rate (RHR), measured at age 18, predicts later psychopathy, and that high RHR acts as a protective factor in nullifying the…

Abstract

Purpose

Previous research has indicated that low resting heart rate (RHR), measured at age 18, predicts later psychopathy, and that high RHR acts as a protective factor in nullifying the influence of several psychosocial risk factors in predicting later antisocial and criminal outcomes. This paper aims to investigate high RHR as a protective factor against age 8–10 psychosocial risk factors in predicting psychopathy factors at age 48 (measured by the PCL:SV).

Design/methodology/approach

Data collected in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development are analyzed. This is a prospective longitudinal study of 411 London males from age 8 to age 61.

Findings

This paper first reports the age 8–10 psychosocial risk factors that predict the interpersonal/affective Factor 1 and the lifestyle/antisocial Factor 2. Then interaction effects with high RHR are studied. The results indicate that high RHR acts as a protective factor against a convicted father and a depressed mother in predicting both psychopathy factors. It also protected against harsh discipline, large family size, low verbal IQ, high hyperactivity, poor parental supervision and a high delinquency-rate school in predicting one of these psychopathy factors, and against a convicted mother in a sensitivity analysis.

Originality/value

This is the first ever longitudinal study showing that high RHR acts as a protective factor in the prediction of psychopathy. The replicated results with different antisocial outcomes show that more research is warranted on the protective effects of high RHR.

Details

Journal of Criminal Psychology, vol. 11 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2009-3829

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 July 2019

Rex Haigh and Nick Benefield

The purpose of this paper is to collaborate across disciplines to agree a better map of human development.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to collaborate across disciplines to agree a better map of human development.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper used an iterative process of consultation with professionals and specialists in relevant disciplines, and service users, continually refining the diagram and text until a “good enough” consensus was reached to produce a diagrammatic form and explanatory text.

Findings

The process revealed a strong commitment across many disciplines to find a common contextual framework within which specialist understandings could be accommodated. The consultation process and iterative development of the diagram and text was marked by widespread interest and many detailed discussions. The substance of this paper is the result of that process.

Research limitations/implications

The model places research in different specialist fields onto a single “map of the territory”. It can encourage collaboration across disciplines when they are studying similar areas from different perspectives. It indicates the value of collaborative rather than competitive research enterprises.

Practical implications

Too often, professionals involved in fields concerning human development become focussed within narrow frameworks of specialisation. The model supports better understanding of how different elements relating to developmental life interrelate. This can facilitate the basis upon which a wide range of training, education and research programmes can be formulated.

Social implications

The model proposes greater use of a “whole-person/whole-life” perspective, which should allow greater integration between disparate approaches, and less experience of fragmentation. For a wide range of public sector activities, the quality of relational activity should be central to effective organisational and human outcomes. Without a unifying context, the understanding required to support relational work is weak: this model ad-dresses that deficit.

Originality/value

This work is entirely original. It should be of value to all those interested in working in holistic ways; to policy makers wishing to avoid duplication, waste and ineffective interventions; and to researchers interested in working across disciplinary boundaries. Most importantly, it is for staff involved in health, justice, social care and education services at all levels. Their effectiveness relies on relational, as well as procedural working, and this model will support confidence in the primacy of these activities.

Article
Publication date: 2 November 2015

Stella Koritsas and Teresa Iacono

The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which mental health, physical health, communication, learned function of the behaviour(s), severity of disability, living…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which mental health, physical health, communication, learned function of the behaviour(s), severity of disability, living arrangement, age, and gender, alone or in combination, predicted challenging behaviours in adults with intellectual disability.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 74 adults with intellectual disability and their paid carers were recruited into the study from adult disability services in Victoria, Australia. Paid carers provided information about participants with intellectual disability on a range of measures targeting each variable of interest.

Findings

Based on principle components analyses of three challenging behaviour measures, two topographies of challenging behaviour emerged: contact and non-contact behaviours. Multiple regression analysis revealed that contact behaviours were predicted by anxiety scores and severity of disability. In addition to severity of disability and anxiety scores, non-contact behaviours were also predicted by sensory scores.

Practical implications

The results of the current study indicate that contact and non-contact behaviours were determined by multiple factors. Clinicians and others who work with people who display challenging behaviour may, therefore, find it helpful to utilise the biopsychosocial model in their formulations of possible reasons that motivate a person to engage in challenging behaviour.

Originality/value

These results contribute to the evidence base available to clinicians and researchers to guide future assessment for challenging behaviour. Expansion of functional assessment methods to explore factors not traditionally included, such as mental health and severity of intellectual disability, as causes of challenging behaviour, may prove helpful.

Details

Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities, vol. 9 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-1282

Keywords

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