Kathryn D. Lafreniere

Bullying in Undergraduate Clinical Nursing Education

Although a limited number of studies have focused on bullying in nursing education to date, all of those studies demonstrate the existence of bullying in clinical settings, where nursing students undertake a significant amount of their nursing education. The purpose of this study was to examine the state of bullying in clinical nursing education among Canadian undergraduate nursing students (N = 674) in all 4 years of their nursing program. Results suggest that nursing students experience and witness bullying behaviors at various frequencies, most notably by clinical instructors and staff nurses. Third-year and fourth-year students experience more bullying behaviors than first-year and second-year students. Implications for practice include ensuring that clinical instructors are well prepared for their role as educators. Policies must be developed that address the issue of bullying within nursing programs and within health care facilities where nursing students undertake their clinical nursing education.

Body Image Perception among Women of African Descent: A Normative Context?

The purpose of this article is to integrate research from across the social sciences in order to understand Black womens body image perceptions. To accomplish this goal, the effects of race, ethnicity, class and culture are examined. Cultural differences between African Canadians/Americans and Blacks living in Africa and the Caribbean are outlined and their effects on Black womens experiences of weight and eating are also discussed. Some of the historical underpinnings, and several aspects of the current social context within which Black women live are explored in order to explain body image perceptions.

The impact of psychosocial features of employment status on emotional distress in chronic pain and healthy comparison samples.

This study examined the extent to which measures of psychosocial features of employment status predict emotional distress in chronic pain (n = 83) and healthy comparison (n = 88) samples. Participants completed measures of emotional distress, pain severity, psychosocial features of employment status, and demographic data. After controlling for length of current unemployment, number of pain sites, and level of current pain severity, psychosocial measures (structured and purposeful time use, perceived financial security, skill use, social support from formal sources) were significant predictors of emotional distress in the chronic pain sample. Similar results were obtained for the healthy comparison sample. Structured and purposeful time use emerged as the most significant individual predictor of emotional distress for both samples. Findings are discussed in terms of their potential implications for treating chronic pain patients and the need to develop multidimensional measures that assess features of employment status within chronic pain samples.

Relations of employment status to emotional distress among chronic pain patients : A path analysis

OBJECTIVE This cross-sectional study evaluated the extent to which relations between employment status and emotional distress are mediated by pain-related and psychosocial measures among employed and unemployed persons with chronic pain. DESIGN A total of 40 unemployed and 43 employed persons reporting chronic pain were recruited from pain services at a tertiary-care hospital and community-based organizations. Volunteers completed self-report measures of pain severity, subjective financial stress, time structure, emotional distress, and background data. RESULTS A path analysis indicated that pain severity had direct associations with both emotional distress and employment status. In addition, employment status was only indirectly related to emotional distress; this relation was mediated by levels of reported financial strain and structured purposeful time use. CONCLUSIONS Findings suggest that pain severity and the quality of specific experiences related to being employed or unemployed as opposed to employment status per se correspond directly to levels of emotional distress reported by some persons with chronic pain.

Weight Control Motives for Cigarette Smoking: Further Consequences of the Sexual Objectification of Women?:

Research has revealed numerous negative consequences associated with the sexual objectification of women. Guided by the constructs of self-objectification and objectified body consciousness (OBC), the present study sought to extend the objectification literature by examining the reasons women report smoking cigarettes in relation to viewing oneself as an object. Undergraduate women (N = 146) completed questionnaire packets assessing OBC, body image, self-esteem, smoking behavior and smoking motives. The results showed that current smokers scored higher on OBC components than did never smokers, and body shame significantly predicted smoking cigarettes in order to control appetite and weight. The results suggest that internalizing the prescribed cultural standard for the female body, a proposed consequence of viewing oneself as an outsider, may play a role in the behavioral choices made by women with respect to smoking.

Breast health educational interventions. Changes in beliefs and practices of working women.

Health education programs supported by womens groups or workplaces have been successful in reaching large populations and changing intentions to perform breast health behaviors. This study examined the responses women working in the automotive industry had to two health education interventions, mailed pamphlets, and a combination of mailed material and classes at the worksite compared to a control group. A quasi-experimental design was used. Of the 948 women completing the pre-test, 437 also completed the post-test and were highly representative of the initial sample. The findings suggest that although the mailed information produced some change in practices and intentions, the classes in combination with the mailed pamphlets produced greater change. In addition, confidence in breast self examination as a method of detecting an existing breast lump increased from pre-test to post-test across all age groups. The reported influences on the womens decisions related to breast health varied across the life span. The results of this study can be used to support the development of effective health promotion programs for use at workplaces to increase the likelihood of women engaging in healthy breast practices.

Relationships between psychometric and experimental measures of arousability

Abstract Subjects (N = 53) responded to the Extraversion Scale of the Eysenck Personality Inventory, the Reducer-Augmenter Scale, the Reactivity Scale, and the Strength of Excitation Scale of the Strelau Temperament Inventory. They then performed visual and auditory magnitude-estimation tasks plus visual and auditory reaction-time tasks. Finally, they set the volume of a stereo tape-recorder to their preferred level while listening to popular music. These procedures enabled us to intercorrelate four psychometric tests and nine experimental indices, all presumably relevant to arousability or ‘strength of the nervous system’. Although the tests intercorrelated highly while the experimental indices were somewhat less univocal, there were few significant cross-correlations between psychometric and experimental measures, all but one quite low (under 0.30). The highest single cross-correlation, that between the Reducer-Augmenter Scale and stereo volume, r(51) = 0.40, P

Student perception of academic grading: Personality, academic orientation, and effort

Factors influencing student perceptions of academic grading were examined, with an emphasis on furthering understanding of the relevance of effort to students’ conceptualization of grading. Students demonstrated a conceptualization of grading where effort should be weighted comparably to actual performance in importance to the composition of a grade, with the expectation that grade allocation should reflect this perception. Students suggested a compensatory effect of effort in grade assignment, where a subjectively perceived high level of effort was expected to supplement low performance on a task. Furthermore, students perceived professors as less fair and less competent when they were perceived to not be able to adequately account for students’ subjective perception of effort. In addition, student perceptions of grading were examined in relation to student-possessed learning orientation (LO), grade orientation (GO), and aspects of personality. Prototypically, individuals high in LO tend to be motivated by the acquisition of knowledge, while those high in GO tend to be driven by the acquisition of high grades. Conscientiousness, openness and age contributed significantly to and positively predicted LO. Inversely, conscientiousness, openness and age contributed significantly to and negatively predicted GO while neuroticism positively predicted this orientation. Students appear to place a heavy amount of importance on professor consideration of effort, despite recognizing the realistic difficulties in determining effort. The potential for an emerging student mentality is discussed, where students’ perception of grading is distorted by a subjective appraisal of their own effort.

Effects of an Emotional Disclosure Writing Task on the Physical and Psychological Functioning of Children of Alcoholics

Abstract This study investigated the effects of an emotional disclosure writing task on the physical and psychological functioning of pre-teen and adolescent children of alcoholics (N = 53). Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: An emotional writing group, a non-emotional writing group, or a non-writing control group. Essays written by participants in both the emotional and non-emotional conditions differed significantly in content in hypothesized ways. Contradictory to what was expected, emotional disclosure failed to convey any additional health benefits. A general improvement was found for all groups over time on internalizing symptoms, affect, and physical symptoms.

Using the Internet to Identify Women's Sources of Breast Health Education and Screening

ABSTRACT Health professionals, womens groups, the media and the Internet have all played a role in educating the public about breast health and breast screening methods. Yet, with all the information that is available to women, their participation rates have been less than optimal. This paradox has resulted in the need to learn more about the sources that influence women to participate in breast screening. In an innovative study using the Internet, over 800 women, primarily from Canada and the United States, were surveyed about their knowledge, attitudes and influences regarding their breast screening practices. Current health status, screening practices and influences of various health professionals on womens health promotion activities were analyzed. Comparisons of the womens perceptions across age groups and national differences between Canadian and American respondents are presented. Women in the older age group reported receiving more encouragement for breast screening activities from physicians, nurses and others than did younger women. American respondents reported perceiving more support from nurses for breast screening than did their Canadian counterparts. A high number of American respondents reported having been diagnosed with breast cancer, while only a small number of Canadian respondents reported this diagnosis. The results from this study can be used in planning health promotion activities relevant to various populations of women. Benefits and limitations of using the Internet as a research medium are briefly discussed.