Exploring the Experiences of Persons Living With Dementia and Their Care Partners During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Public health measures implemented to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 have transformed the physical and social environments in which we live. The effects of these policies on persons living with dementia (PLWD) and their care partners (CPs) are not fully understood. This study explores the experiences, attitudes, and perceptions of caregiving dyads during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cross-sectional survey data were drawn from a larger longitudinal study examining the relationship between PLWD aged 65+ and their CPs being conducted in a metropolitan city significantly affected by COVID-19. Interviews with were conducted remotely via videoconferencing and telephone. Data on sources and types of care provided for the PLWD, relationship quality and conflict, and caregiver stress were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics and tests of independence. Preliminary results from PLWD (n=8) and CPs (n=13) confirmed a reduction in social interaction with family members and friends. CPs reported they (n=5) or other family members (n=2) changed their schedules to provide care for the PLWD. CPs reported increased conflict with the PLWD regarding care provision, going out or welcoming visitors, and home management. In contrast, PLWD reported a lack of conflict among household members (n=6) and the perception of good changes (n=2) and increased quality time with CPs. Preliminary findings provide empirical evidence of the effects of pandemic public health policies on dyads enrolled in this study and reveal differences in perceived relational conflict between PLWD and their CPs. Further research is needed to better understand the experiences of dyads and develop supportive interventions.

Does bad gossiping trigger for targets to hide knowledge in morally disengaged? New multi-level insights of team relational conflict

Purpose Despite the recent extending research on knowledge hiding, there is still scant research on social stressor phenomena-related contextual antecedent factors and new cognitive mechanisms of knowledge hiding behaviors. To shed new light on this unexplored gap, this research explores the multi-level moderated mediation model that examines how and when negative gossip experienced by targets in the workplace induces their knowledge hiding from coworkers drawing from the lens of social learning and cognitive theories. More specifically, this study aims to evaluate the relationship between negative workplace gossip and knowledge hiding via moral disengagement, and this mediation effect is also moderated by team relational conflict as a novel boundary condition. Design/methodology/approach This study collected multi-wave 338 employees’ data from 68 teams of cross-sectional industries in China, which were nested within teams. The collected nested nature data were analyzed by employing multi-level analysis based on hierarchical linear modeling. Findings The results suggested that negative workplace gossip first triggers moral disengagement and thereby, leads to knowledge hiding. Furthermore, the direct positive association between negative workplace gossip and moral disengagement was strengthened by increasing intra-team relational conflict. In addition, the mediation effect of moral disengagement between negative workplace gossip and knowledge hiding was also strengthened through increasing intra-team relational conflict. Originality/value This study first empirically examines the multi-level model using a new underlying mechanism (moral disengagement) and team-level boundary condition (relational conflict) and enriches the current literature on knowledge management and workplace gossip. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings and future research lines are also discussed, which will facilitate practitioners and academicians to curb counterproductive knowledge behavior.

Surviving trust from conflict in the construction industry: an interaction between conflict handling behaviors, behavioral outcomes, conflict and trust

Purpose This paper aims to reveal the role of conflict management in the process of trust development. Specifically, this study investigates how the salience of conflict varies with different conflict-handling behaviors and behavioral outcomes and how the variation of the salience of conflict influences the trust development between contracting parties. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire survey was undertaken to collect data from 310 experienced project practitioners. Hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrapping with a structural equation model were mainly used to test the hypotheses. Findings This paper finds that the relational degree of conflict handling behaviors can influence the salience of conflict and furthermore to influence trust between contracting parties, with this relationship mediated by the behavioral outcomes; however, all these relationships are contingent on the stage where relational conflict handling behaviors are adopted and the specific type of outcomes the behaviors result in. Practical implications This study provides some specific directions for the practitioners to conduct relational conflict handling behaviors and generate positive outcomes to keep trust developing between contracting parties in conflictual situations. Originality/value This study contributes to the knowledge of inter-organizational trust development as well as conflict management, by investigating the relationship between conflict and trust in a direction, which is less examined and revealing the process of conflict management, where the conflict handling behaviors influence behavioral outcomes to further manage conflict, in trust development.

PERTINENT ILLS CONCOMITANT WITH MATRIFOCALITY IN ZIMBABWE: IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT

Objective: The paper explored the challenges underpinning matrifocality in Zimbabwe, what is normally termed single motherhood. With the marital institution losing eminence in Africa due to a myriad of factors such as globalization, industrialization, and eurocentrism; this has greatly altered today’s family structure. The study was anchored on the realization that the traditional composition of an African family which recognized extended families has now been overshadowed by the surfacing of nuclear families as well as an increase in matrifocal families. Methods: The article utilized a qualitative approach and a case study design. Convenience sampling was used to select 16 single mothers and a purposive sampling method was preferred to sample three key informants. For single mothers, in a mini-depth interviews were used to elicit detailed information and focus group discussion was adopted for key informants. Data were analyzed using the thematic process to integrate the findings. Results: Stress-induced pathologies, relational conflict within the family set-up, economic privations, communal cynicism, and ostracism were identified as challenges compromising the development and stability of matrifocal families in Chiredzi district. Conclusions: Guided by various feminism lenses and the ecological perspective, the article shifts from the pathological view to single motherhood, advocating for the need to focus the dialogue along the challenges faced by matrifocal families in an attempt to recommend interventions that can strengthen this family set-up.

The Presence of a Mobile Phone Does Not (Necessarily) Change the Fundamental Processes of Face-to-Face Relational Conflict

This study extends research examining the presence of mobile phones during interpersonal interactions into the context of serial arguments between dating couples. Fifty-eight dating couples (N = 116) had two 10-minute face-to-face serial argument conversations in a laboratory-controlled experiment when technology was either present or absent. The most salient findings were consistent with longstanding findings in the conflict literature: positive communication was associated positively with desirable outcomes (conversational satisfaction, perceived resolvability, and conversation effectiveness) whereas negative behaviors were inversely related to desirable conflict outcomes. Overall, results showed little evidence that the presence of a participant’s smartphone affected the quality of serial argument conversations, but biological sex moderated the impact of technology on conversation satisfaction and perceived conversation effectiveness, such that technology presence negatively impacted women more than men. These findings suggest that the presence of mobile phones does not fundamentally alter effective conflict engagement in general, but there are likely circumstances in which the presence of mobile phones is important.

PTSD symptoms in religious leaders: Prevalence, stressors, and associations with narcissism

Religious leaders face numerous mental health challenges, and prior research suggests that some experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to work-related experiences. This study employed a diverse sample of 274 religious leaders to (a) qualitatively describe the types of work-related experiences they identify as particularly stressful or overwhelming, (b) assess the prevalence of PTSD symptoms associated with these experiences, and (c) test hypothesized associations between PTSD symptoms and narcissism. The study found that the stressful experiences reported typically involved relational conflict, having limited resources, or caring for people suffering. Over half of the sample endorsed symptoms that were above the cutoff for a clinical concern for PTSD, and PTSD symptoms were significantly associated with symptoms of both vulnerable narcissism and grandiose narcissism. Practical implications for the ongoing formation and support of religious leaders are discussed.