Nik Chmiel

Perceived Organizational Support for Safety and Employee Safety Voice: The Mediating Role of Coworker Support for Safety

In the present study, we modeled 2 sources of safety support (perceived organizational support for safety and perceived coworker support for safety) as predictors of employee safety voice, that is, speaking out in an attempt to change unsafe working conditions. Drawing on social exchange and social impact theories, we hypothesized and tested a mediated model predicting employee safety voice using a cross-sectional survey of urban bus drivers (n = 213) in the United Kingdom. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that perceived coworker support for safety fully mediated the relationship between perceived organizational support for safety and employee safety voice. This study adds to the employee voice literature by evaluating the important role that coworkers can play in encouraging others to speak out about safety issues. Implications for research and practice related to change-oriented safety communication are discussed.

Life on the Line: Job Demands, Perceived Co-Worker Support for Safety, and Hazardous Work Events

The present study of 334 United Kingdom trackside workers tested an interaction hypothesis. We hypothesized, drawing on the job demands-resources framework, that perceived support for safety (from senior managers, supervisors, and coworkers) as job resources would weaken the relationship between higher job demands and more frequent hazardous work events. Consistent with social impact theory, we predicted that perceived coworker support for safety would be particularly influential when trackside workers faced higher job demands. Moderated multiple regression showed that, of all three sources of perceived support for safety, perceived coworker support for safety was most important for keeping employees safe in the face of high job demands.

Performance expectations, personal resources, and job resources: How do they predict work engagement?

Research on work engagement has mainly focused on the role of job and personal resources and has ignored the possible impact of personal demands workers develop with regard to their work. The aim of our study was to test the reciprocal relationships that job resources, personal resources, and personal demands, operationalized as performance expectations, share with work engagement. Three-wave longitudinal data were collected in a Belgian public institution (N = 473). Results confirm the causal effects of job resources, personal resources, and performance expectations on work engagement. Reciprocal relationships are not significant. Results are discussed with regard to the impact of changes in job and personal resources and performance expectations on work engagement. Practical implications including reinforcement of Human Resources practices such as appraisal interviewing and career management are also discussed.

Building Resilience in Health and Social Care Teams.

Structured Abstract: Purpose: This paper presents the results of a United Kingdom (UK) study that draws on the disciplines of Health and Social Care, Management and Organisational Psychology to explore the place of resilience in teams and its potential contribution to demand led Health and Social Care provision in Integrated care. Approach: A general inductive approach (Silverman, 2011) was applied. Five focus groups were facilitated (n=40) each with eight participants all of whom were leaders and managers of teams in Health and Social Care, working in the integrated care context in the United Kingdom. Findings: Findings indicate that taking into account the sustaining of effort in performance, whether the team is interprofessional or multidisciplinary in type and the model of team learning adopted could assist organisational workforce developers to target their education and training strategies so that teams may have more resilience to cope with changes faced. Research Limitations: This research is at an early stage and further examination and testing of the findings and potential solutions is required Practical Implications: Targeting team development and workforce education based on effort in performance, whether the team is interprofessional or multidisciplinary in type and the model of team learning could prove cost effective and impact on the resilience and performance of the integrated team in tough times. Originality/Value: This preliminary research, which capitalises on a distinction in team type and working practices between those of interprofessional and multidisciplinary teams ( Chmiel, McCray and Palmer, 2013) the sustaining of effort and the model of team learning, may have important consequences for team processes involved in resilience in Health and Social Care teams. These findings may be significant for workforce educators seeking to develop and build effective practice tools to sustain team working. Keywords: Teamwork. Resilience. Integrated Care. Interprofessional. Multidisciplinary. Article Classification: Research Paper

Foot care, ‘spousal’ support and type 2 diabetes: an exploratory qualitative study

Objectives: People with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) should check their feet and protect them against harm, but few do. Living with a spouse contributes to good foot care behaviour. This study explores awareness, perceived susceptibility of, and concern about, foot problems, and reported foot care behaviour, and ways in which a spouse may or may not contribute to foot care in T2DM. Methods: 1:1 interviews were conducted with 6 individuals with T2DM. Half had a spouse half did not. There was one person at low, medium and high risk in each sample. Each spouse participated in a separate interview, and the dyads were interviewed together. Interviews were analysed using Applied Thematic Analysis. Results: All participants knew that diabetes was associated with foot problems. Not all people with T2DM thought that they were susceptible; spouses perceived greater susceptibility for the patient. This was unrelated to risk level. Most people with T2DM and all spouses engaged in behaviour to identify problems or protect feet, but rarely both. Spouses’ attitude and behaviour did influence the patients’ own behaviour. At times spouse support was perceived positively, and at times negatively. Conclusion: Engaging spouses in foot care education may improve foot care behaviour.

TREADING THE PATH BETWEEN INTENTIONS AND ACTIONS: A COMPLEX HIERARCHICAL MODEL OF PROSPECTIVE MEMORY

Background:Middle-life hypertension (HTN) increases the risk of late-life Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, whether HTN causes ADor is a distinct disease that increases the prevalencewith age (comorbidity) remains unclear. This study aims to test if there is a causal relationship between HTN and AD. Methods: Two animal models were used to test the role of HTN in AD pathogenesis. First, 3xTg AD model mice at the ages of 2, 5 and 7 months were subjected to “two-kidney-one-clip” (2K1C) surgery to induce HTN. One and three months after the surgery, the blood pressures, hippocampus-dependent learning and memory, and AD-related pathologies, including Ab production and deposition and Tau phosphorylation, were evaluated. Second, Lanyu-miniature-pigs, at the age of 7 months, were subjected to abdominal aortic constriction (AAC) to induce HTN. The blood pressures and AD-related pathologies were determined 1, 2 and 3 months after the surgery. Results:The 3xTg mouse study: In all three ages of mice, the blood pressures were increased 7 days after the 2K1C surgery and last at least 1 month. One month after the surgery, the hippocampusdependent memories were impaired. The levels of Ab, amyloid precursor protein, pS412-Tau in the ventral hippocampi were elevated, while the levels of Tau protein kinase, GSK3b, were not affected. Furthermore, 7-month-old mice subjected to 2K1C for three months showed higher amyloid plaque loads in the hippocampi than the Sham controls. The pig study: Three months after the AAC surgery, the blood pressures of pigs were increased. The levels of Ab, amyloid precursor protein, pT212-Tau, pS412Tau, activated GSK3b and RAGE were increased, while the levels of LRP1 and pAKT were unchanged in the ventral hippocampi. The activities of another GSK3b upstream inhibition kinase, PKC, were decreased by AAC surgery. Immunohistochemistry revealed that the expression levels of pS412-Tau in the mossy fiber of hippocampi were increased. Conclusions:HTN aggravates the AD-related pathologies, including impairment of hippocampusdependent learning and memory, accumulation and deposition of Ab and increases of Tau phosphorylation. Control of blood pressure during middle-life may delay the onset of AD.