A hindrance to proper health care: psychometric development and validation of opiophobia questionnaire among doctors in Pakistan

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Faiqa Naz ◽  
Kanwar Hamza Shuja ◽  
Muhammad Aqeel ◽  
Saima Ehsan ◽  
Atqa Noor ◽  
...  

Purpose There is an ever-increasing number of patients suffering from various forms of acute and chronic pain and getting treatment for such ailments is a basic human right. Opioid analgesics remain one way of managing and attending to such patients. However, due to the prevalence of opiophobia, many doctors avoid prescribing opioid-based medicines, even at the cost of patients suffering leading to a hindrance in providing optimal health care. Up till now, there has been no reliable and valid instrument to measure the severity of opiophobia in doctors. For this reason, the purpose of this study is to represent the construction of a precise and reliable instrument for measuring opiophobia along with its validation for doctors in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach Interviews and theoretical knowledge relating to opiophobia were used as the basis for the purpose of generating an item pool. The generated item pool was evaluated by subject matter experts for content validity and inter-rater reliability, followed by Velicer’s minimum average partial method and maximum likelihood factor analysis for establishing the factorial structure of the scale. As opiophobia in doctors prevails the most and causes a lower ratio of prescription of opioid analgesics. The present sample selected for the study was that of n = 100 doctors (men = 50; women = 50) from various hospitals, treating patients with chronic pain, in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Findings A two-factor structure was suggested by Velicer’s minimum average partial method and maximum likelihood factor analysis, which were labeled as fear of opioid analgesics and justified acceptance of opioids. The developed opiophobia questionnaire along with its subscales displayed appropriate levels of reliability α = 0.733, α = 0.760 and α = 0.725, respectively, suggesting the scale to be reliable. Research limitations/implications Like any other study, this study also tried to address every essential aspect, but still lacked at some places which should be considered and catered for in future studies. In the first place the sample size was very limited which was due to the fact, the study was conducted during a pandemic and physically going for data collection was unavailable, thus leading to consequent sample size. It is recommended a correspondent study can be conducted with larger sample size, so they can get more reliable results with greater precision and power. Then, they will have the advantage of a small margin of error. The second limitation was the study involved only doctors as that was the main focus of the present study. However, other hospital staff such as nurses should also be incorporated to assess their level of opiophobia. The current scale suggests the severity of opiophobia with higher scores though no cutoff point has been suggested. Future studies should try and incorporate a cutoff point to assess the difference between doctors who have conventional levels of reservations against opioids and those suffering from opiophobia. Another limitation was that the present scale did not establish additional validities such as convergent and divergent validity. Future studies should collect data from a larger sample to establish these validities to further refine the scale. Practical implications This instrument can be immensely effective in identifying doctors who have concerns and fears about prescribing opioids to patients with chronic pain. The findings acquired on such a scale can help in developing appropriate academic and psychological interventions which can help such doctors to overcome their opiophobia. This can enable more doctors to prescribe appropriate medicine to their patients instead of letting them suffer from pain. Additionally, researchers can equally benefit from the instrument as it can enable them to investigate opiophobia with other possible variables. Social implications Developing such a scale about the fear faced by doctors while treating patients would be very useful as it is not possible to take such fear when it comes to a patient’s life. This fear is also common among patients where they have a fear about the undesirable effects, addiction of drugs and fear of dying. Better awareness should be given to them which will be helpful for successful and less painful treatment in hospitals. Originality/value This scale is an original work with the aim of accessing opiophobia among doctors toward (chronic) patients with severe pain. There was a lot of research work that has been done on opiophobia in developed countries and few Pakistani researchers have also worked on opiophobia and its impact on pain management but still, no scale has been developed to measure the extent or tendency of opiophobia among doctors or patients. This scale can be used globally on both men and women doctors to access the tendency of opiophobia among them.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Babajide Oyewo

PurposeThis study investigates the usage of modern management accounting techniques popularly referred to as “strategic management accounting” (SMA), and the extent to which innovation attributes (namely relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability) determine SMA usage intensity.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data was obtained through a structured questionnaire from 45 out of 56 publicly listed manufacturing companies on the Mainboard of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used to analyse data.FindingsWhereas the overall usage rate of SMA as an innovation is generally moderate, there is significant difference in SMA usage intensity across industries in the manufacturing sector due to environmental uncertainty. Compatibility emerged as the strongest determinant of SMA usage intensity, implying that commercial enterprises would intensely apply SMA to remain innovative, to continuously improve and to incorporate strategy in accounting practice in a bid to survive competition. SMA will witness extensive usage if it aligns with the competitive strategies of an organisation.Research limitations/implicationsThe attributes of innovation measured treat all SMA techniques as one, but did not measure relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability for each of the techniques. Future studies may consider investigating how innovation attributes specifically affect each SMA technique. The dimension of compatibility investigated in the study lean towards the alignment of SMA with competitive strategies. Taking into account the multidimensionality of compatibility as an innovation attribute, future studies may examine how past experience of implementing new ideas, as well as compatibility of SMA with corporate culture and value system, affect the dissemination and diffusion of management accounting innovations.Practical implicationsThe paper proposes that although innovation attributes may partly explain SMA usage, coercive factors such as competition and environmental uncertainty may also be responsible for the decision to adopt innovative management accounting practices. The study therefore calls for a critical appraisal of how coercive institutional factors such as competition, regulation and actions of key stakeholders influence the decision of organisations to adopt an innovation.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to knowledge by challenging existing knowledge and presenting evidence that innovation attributes acclaimed to determine the spread of an innovation may be inapplicable in certain settings due to some environmental challenges. The study also contributes to knowledge by developing a composite scale for measuring innovation attributes specifically adapted to management accounting innovation, which can be used in future studies.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Prachi Verma ◽  
Satinder Kumar ◽  
Sanjeev K. Sharma

Purpose This study aims to explore the different dimensions of e-healthcare ethics and their relationships, influencing the ethical concerns of the consumer in making ethical e-healthcare choices. Design/methodology/approach A study was conducted at two identified major hospitals of Punjab (a private hospital) and Chandigarh (a public hospital), India providing e-healthcare services with the help of a self-administered questionnaire. The respondents were identified from the waiting areas of the selected hospitals, and only those respondents were selected for the study, who agreed to be aware of e-health services and were using them for some time. The statistical analysis was done using the structural equation modeling technique and included both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis using SPSS 20 and AMOS 21. Findings Exploratory factor analysis extracted five dimensions of ethical concerns of the consumer, which include service promotion, content quality, candor, professionalism and confidentiality. The results signify that content quality plays a significant role in ethics, followed by candor, service promotion and confidentiality. However, the relationship with professionalism did not prove to be significant for the ethical concerns of the e-health consumer. Practical implications This research delivers a practical significance in identifying the critical dimensions of the ethical concerns of the consumer while selecting e-health services. It gives an insight into the various dimensions, which should be considered by the e-health providers while crafting e-health services to make it more ethically acceptable by the consumers. Originality/value By using e-health services, consumers play an active role in their health-care decisions. The consumers need to consider ethics while choosing health-care services as an ethical judgment will also be the correct judgment. This study helps in the identification of the significant dimensions for the ethical concerns of the consumers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 625-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Özgür Kökalan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating roles of organizational spiritual values in the relationship between organizational cycinism and job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach The sample was selected by using a convenience sampling method. The sample included in 472 employees from different sectors such as higher education, banking, energy and manufacturing industry. Participants filled in organizational cycinism scale, job satisfaction scale and organizational spirituality scale. Comfirmatory factor analysis and structural equation method were used to detect the direction and level of the relationships between parameters. Findings According to the mediating analysis findings, organizational spirituality is the partial reason for the association between behavioral cycinism and job satisfaction. Organizational spirituality is also the full reason for the association between affective cycinism and job satisfaction and the relationship between cognitive cycinism and job satisfaction. This means that organizational spirituality decreases the negative effects of organizational cycinism on job satisfaction. Research limitations/implications This research is not free from limitations just like others. First, the sampling was limited with only four sectors. In future studies, it can be favorable to take data from all other sectors. The second limitation was that organizational spirituality was the only factor that was used to determine the relationships among the three dimensions of organizational cynicism and job satisfaction. The last limitation was regarding the sample size. Although, sample size that was used in this research was enough to conduct all statistical analyses, extended sample size could be used in future studies. Practical implications The results of this research may benefit various stakeholders. While determining organizational spirituality elements in an organization, all the stakeholders’ voices should be included, and their values should be taken into consideration. In addition to this, all institutional employees should be trained about spirituality that exists in the organization, so that all employees will develop a strong bond with other employees and the organization. Moreover, organizational spirituality is closely related to organizational justice. If manager wants organizational spirituality to take root in the institution and eliminate the negativities, it is absolutely necessary to apply organizational justice in each and every matter within the organization. Originality/value There have been no studies exploring the mediating effects of organizational spirituality on the organizational cynicism and job satisfaction relationship. Therefore, this paper could be accepted as original.


2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Azeem ◽  
Leonardo Mataruna

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate important determinants of the culture of collective leadership in academic organizations. The present school improvement framework of Dubai School Inspection Board (DSIB) does not include cultural factors such as collective leadership, which is, according to many researchers, a leading factor of the operational efficiency and sustainable growth. The research objective was to identify the set of conditions that extend support to the development of collective leadership culture in the school work environment. In order to achieve research objectives, a sample of 271 employees from 12 underperforming private schools in Dubai was selected to examine the degree of the presence of visible practices promoting the culture of collective leadership. The past literature was explored to identify three manifest variables as determinants of the culture of collective leadership in the organization. The descriptive research design was adopted, and factor loadings on three manifest variables were examined through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to validate the scale, and later the model hypotheses were tested using the linear regression model. The study has revealed that shared vision, employee’s commitment to achieving the organizational goal, and collaboration are key determinants, whereas staff commitment is the most important determinant of collective leadership. Generalization of the findings is one of the main concerns due to small sample size, which can be improved in future similar studies by running the model on the larger sample size. Indeed, this study is one of the few that provides a quantitative approach to the measurement of collective leadership in schools, and its findings can be a source of guideline for institutions in higher education and non-academic organizations as well. Design/methodology/approach The descriptive research design was adopted to explain the the characteristics of the population with respect to variables used in the model. The underlying variables were explored through the past literature; therefore, EFA was also undertaken to validate the relationship between scale items and manifest independent variables of the hypothesized construct. The testing of hypothesis makes this research “confirmatory” that allows making inference about the parameters of the multiple regression models in this empirical model. Findings The concept of collective leadership is explaining the wider role of leadership function in an organization. It is one of the cultural aspects that can be seen through everyday practices in any educational institution. These practices include shared vision among employees, commitment to achieving the common goal, and collaboration and teamwork. The results show that staff commitment is the most important determinant of collective leadership. The understanding of a cultural aspect of collective leadership is necessary to deal with the problems of nonperforming educational organizations. It is important that school leaders must think beyond the current DSIB model and include elements of collective leadership in their strategic plans. This will enable them to achieve sustainable students and organizational achievements. Employees’ clarity on the objectives, trust and collaboration are prerequisite of such culture. Research limitations/implications Generalization is one of the main concerns in this study. The larger sample size can help overcome this problem. The sample size in the current study was also gathered without stratification of the population. Schools can be classified with respect to gender, ethnicity, curriculum and social status. These factors were controlled in this study but can produce different results if included for the analysis. Data collection can be expanded to the entire country, Middle East and Asian region for further generalized interpretation. This will also open the scope to the cross-cultural analysis on the subject. Moreover, the mediating or moderating role of many other variables needs to be involved in the model for more accurate findings, such as curriculum, economic status of students, employees nationality and qualification, leadership experience and school budgetary volume are considered important factors which may affect school performance. A similar study can be conducted for the entire country covering all states. Practical implications The culture of collective leadership is not a sole cultural factor that creates success for the institution. When an organization achieves maturity in the collective leadership, employees set up goals in their own work in alignment to the overall organizational objectives. These goals will act as challenges, and with the motivated employees will take up these challenges and find new and improved ways to address the problems. This will provoke the creative thinking among employees. They will start realizing the importance of the critical knowledge in the work. Ultimately, when the organization develops a system to identify, store and make use of such knowledge, it will become learning organization, which is ready to meet future challenges. Social implications This study will help organizations in other sector and industry as well, especially in service industry including financial institutions, higher education, etc. This will also provide guidelines to the education ministries across the region and beyond. Originality/value This is a new contribution in the field of HRM or workplace practices. It describes the factors determining the culture of collective leadership that in return creates success for the organization. This paper was never published before.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Milad Sheikhbanooie ◽  
Majid Farahian

PurposeSince reflectivity has a crucial role in education, it has attracted researchers’ attention in the last decades. As such, the present study aimed to construct and validate a questionnaire to assess the barriers to reflective practices of Iranian ESP (English for Specific Purposes) instructors. Furthermore, this study aimed to investigate the reliability of the scale.Design/methodology/approachTo attain the purpose of the study, the researchers developed the first item pool of the questionnaire which included 67 items. Then, 4 experts were asked to pass their judgments on the items. Accordingly, 37 items were excluded and the next draft of the questionnaire that included 30 items remained. After their feedback, the revised scale was piloted with 10 ESP instructors to check the clarity of items. Then, the scale was administered to 210 ESP instructors. At the next stage, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was run to assess the construct validity of the questionnaire. Based on the results, three items were removed. To investigate the internal consistency of the scale, a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was employed.FindingsThe final version of the scale included 27 items with three subscales, namely, learners, instructors and institutions’ issues. The results revealed that the questionnaire enjoyed an acceptable level of validity and reliability.Originality/valueApart from a few studies, no other study has scrutinized barriers to EFL teachers’ reflectivity. In addition, in the realm of ESP, no study has developed a scale to measure barriers to ESP teachers’ reflective practice.


2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 429-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ady Milman ◽  
Anita Zehrer ◽  
Asli D.A. Tasci

Purpose Previous mountain tourism research addressed economic, environmental, social and political impacts. Because limited studies evaluated visitors’ perception of their experience, this study aims to examine the tangible and intangible visitor experience in a Tyrolean alpine tourist attraction. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted Klaus and Maklan’s (2012) customer experience model, suggesting that customers base their experience perception on the quality of product experience, outcome focus, moments of truth and peace-of-mind. Their model was used to validate the impact on overall customer experience quality at the mountain attraction through conducting a structured survey with 207 face-to-face interviews on-site. Findings The results of the confirmatory factor analysis did not confirm the four-dimensional structure, probably due to the differences between mountain tourism experience and the mortgage lending experience in the original study. Instead, principal component analysis suggested a different dimensional structure of components that were arbitrarily named as functional, social, comparative and normative aspects of the visitors’ experience. Research limitations/implications The results are based on a sample in a given period of time, using convenience sampling. While the sample size satisfied the data analysis requirements, confirmatory factor analysis would benefit from a larger sample size. Practical implications Consumer experience dimensions while visiting a mountain attraction may not be concrete or objective, and consequently may yield different types of attributes that influence behavior. Social implications The social exchange theory could explain relationships between visitors and service providers and their consequences. Attraction managers should increase benefits for visitors and service providers to enhance their relationships, and thus experience. Originality/value The study explored the applicability of an existing experiential consumption model in a mountain attraction context. The findings introduce a revised model that may be applicable in other tourist attractions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 407-413
Author(s):  
Charles C. Broz ◽  
Rhonda K. Hammond

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to survey current culinary, hospitality and nutrition students to determine their level of knowledge about dysphagia, or swallowing impairment, and the dysphagia diet. In addition, the study provided a means by which to gauge current students’ awareness of health-care foodservice as a career option. Design/methodology/approach – A pilot study conducted in 2009 indicated that health-care foodservice workers were unaware of many of the risks associated with the dysphagia diet. A second study was conducted in 2012 to obtain an idea of the perceptions and knowledge levels of culinary, hospitality and nutrition students about dysphagia. Subjects included students across the three disciplines at two large universities in the Midwestern USA, and a private culinary school on the east coast of the USA. The instrument consisted of a traditional paper survey containing 18 questions. A total sample size of n = 139 surveys was collected and analyzed. Findings – Results of the survey suggests that current university students are lacking in some areas of knowledge concerning dysphagia patients and their dietary needs. Education and training are indicated, as the number of patients suffering from some degree of dysphagia is only going to increase as the US population ages. Findings also indicate that many introductory-level students are unaware of health-care foodservice as a viable career choice in industry. Research limitations/implications – The primary limitations to this research were the relatively small sample size, and the fact that most students surveyed were not interested or aware of health-care foodservice as a viable industry career choice. This study would be greatly enhanced by contacting professors/instructors at several universities representing the Northeast, Midwest, and east and west coasts of the USA. Educating future foodservice professionals at the introductory level would allow industry leaders to make students aware of this large and necessary sector of the foodservice industry. Likewise, there is no doubt that food preparers, food deliverers and foodservice managers in health care will come in contact with a patient with some level of dysphagia as our population ages. More research to strengthen this body of data is indicated, as are similar studies across broader ranges of the population. Practical implications – The occurrence of dysphagia is growing as the US population ages. That fairly little research has been done is somewhat alarming. There is a need for standardization of recipe formulas, benchmarking viscosities of dietary liquids and solids and training of food preparers. The symptom is found in very large populations in the USA, as well as in Europe. Also, the fact that dysphagia has so many potential causes makes the symptom that much more of a health issue. More research is certainly called for to better prepare potential institutional foodservice employees for the next 20 years. Originality/value – Millions of Americans currently suffer from at least some degree of dysphagia. This number is expected to increase as the Baby Boomer generation reaches retirement age. The USA will be populated by more elderly people than ever before, and will thus host more individuals suffering from swallowing impairment. Health-care foodservice, including hospital and long-term care foodservice will certainly become a viable career choice for current students of culinary arts, nutrition and hospitality.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 200-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachael Smith ◽  
Robin Bell ◽  
Helen Watts

Purpose – This paper aims to identify personality trait differences between social and traditional entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach – The Durham Business School’s General Enterprise Tendencies (GET) test was chosen to measure an individual’s entrepreneurial personality. The choice was based on the test’s established use within industry and its ability to measure traits most commonly considered “entrepreneurial” by the extant literature. The test was adapted for this study and distributed to both social and traditional entrepreneurs. The results were then statistically analysed to test for significant differences between the two groups. Findings – It was found that social entrepreneurs exhibited statistically significantly higher levels of creativity, risk-taking and need for autonomy than traditional entrepreneurs. The results were then discussed critically in light of the literature. Research limitations/implications – The modest sample size was the main limitation of the research. In addition, the sample set was fairly culturally homogeneous. It has been recommended that an additional test be carried out with a larger sample size, consisting of a more culturally diverse range of participants, to improve the generalisation of the findings. Originality/value – This research provides new insights into personality trait differences between social and traditional entrepreneurs and is particularly useful to those with an interest in entrepreneurial orientation and those interested in the identification and development of social entrepreneurs.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Abdulla Alrahbi ◽  
Mehmood Khan ◽  
Shivam Gupta ◽  
Sachin Modgil ◽  
Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour

Purpose The health-care industry has multiple stakeholders, with knowledge dispersed among clinicians, experts and patients and their families. As the adoption of health-care information technologies (HITs) depends on multiple factors, this study aims to uncover the motivators for adopting them. Design/methodology/approach The study considers 391 respondents, representing the health-care sector, to evaluate the motivators for adopting HITs for better-dispersed knowledge management. The authors analyze the responses using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to identify the actual structure of the factors, followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Findings EFA categorized the factors into four classes: quality management; information sharing; strategic governance; and available technological infrastructure. CFA revealed that the strategic governance factor is most predictive of successfully adopting HITs that model the normative pressure of Institutional theory in health-care organizations. These results indicate that, along with considerations of finances, care quality and infrastructure, effective government involvement and policy-making are important for successful HIT adoption. Practical implications Results reveal that stakeholders’ motivating factors for HIT adoption in a developed economy like the United Arab Emirates are based on considering HITs as a knowledge management mechanism. These factors may help other nations in HIT implementation and drive valuable innovations in the health-care sector. This research presents the implications for health-care professionals and stakeholders in relation to adopting HITs and their role in knowledge flow for efficient care. Originality/value HITs offer an affordable and convenient platform for collaboration among diverse teams in the health-care sector. Apart from this, it helps in facilitating an interactive platform for knowledge creation and transfer for the benefit of users and providers.


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